Kerala 'love jihad' case: Supreme Court orders father to produce Hadiya before bench on 27 November

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the father of a Kerala woman, who had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, to produce her before it on 27 November. A bench, comprising chief justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, asked senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the father of the woman, to ensure that she is produced that day for interaction with the bench, which is likely to ascertain her mental state and whether she had given free consent to the marriage. [caption id=“attachment_4179247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Hadiya, formerly Akhila Ashokan. Image courtesy Firstpost Hindi[/caption] The national investigation agency, represented by additional solicitor general Maninder Singh, said there was a well-oiled machinery working in the state and they are indulging in the indoctrination and radicalisation of the society in the state where as many as 89 cases of similar nature have been reported. Divan, appearing for woman’s father KM Ashokan, claimed the alleged husband of his daughter is a radicalised man and several organisations like popular front of India (PFI) are involved in radicalisation of the society. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for her husband Shafin Jahan, opposed the NIA’s submission and that of the woman’s father. The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State’s mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge. Jahan had on 20 September approached the apex court seeking recall of its 16 August order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him. Meanwhile, the Kerala government had on 7 October told the Supreme Court that its police had conducted a “thorough investigation” into her conversion and subsequent marriage to Jahan and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the NIA. Jahan had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.