Hadiya case: Kerala BJP slams Pinarayi Vijayan govt for opposing plea seeking NIA probe

Kozhikode: Kerala BJP President Kummanem Rajasekheran on Saturday slammed the state government for filing an affidavit in the Supreme court opposing a NIA probe into the case of a young Hindu woman who embraced Islam. Hadiya, 24, was born Akhila Ashokan in a Hindu family in Kerala. She converted to Islam and married Shafin Jahan, 27, in December 2016. “The stand taken by the (Pinarayi) Vijayan government clearly shows the soft corner of this Left government towards anti-national forces,” Rajasekheran told the media here in the course of his “Jana Raksha Kerala Yatra” that entered its fifth day. [caption id=“attachment_4119543” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] He asked why the Kerala government opposed a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the case. On 25 May, the Kerala High Court declared the marriage “null and void”, terming it a “sham” and ordered that Akhila be placed under her parents’ protective custody. On 16 August, the Supreme Court ordered a NIA probe, supervised by retired apex court Justice RV Raveendran into the religious conversion and her marriage to Jahan. Jahan has since challenged the High Court order in the top court, saying it an “insult to the independence of woman in India”. The Kerala government has said the Crime Branch probe into the case was enough.