03/10/2017
Hadiya's Case - A Glimpse -
Hadiya, was born as Akhila Ashokan, and has been confined to her father’s house in Thiruvananthapuram for the past four months after the Kerala high court annulled her marriage.
Many rights activists have alleged that she is being tortured by her family.
On 25.1.2016 Ashokan Mani Akhila’s father filed "habeas corpus" petition in Kerala HC alleging that his daughter was missing from campus and was forcibly converted to Islam. Akhila studied Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery.
In June 2016 - When Akhila was located, she testified that she had converted to Islam of her own free will and had enrolled in a course to study the religion. The Kerala High Court dismissed Ashokan Mani’s habeas corpus petition and allowed Akhila to stay with her friend.
In August 2016: Mani filed a second habeas corpus petition, this time alleging that Akhila had been converted to Islam at the behest of the Islamic State.
In December 2016 - According to the certificates submitted by Akhila, she married Shafin Jahan, aged 27, in December 2016. Akhila had allegedly converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya.
25.5.2017 - The Kerala High Court annulled the wedding on the habeas corpus petition filed by Akhila’s father. The court also ordered a probe into allegations that Akhila was forcibly converted and indoctrinated as part of a ‘love jihad’ conspiracy by the Islamic State.
A division bench of Justice Surendra Mohan and Justice Abraham Mathew ruled that the couple’s marriage, which was performed without the approval or presence of Akhila’s parents, was “a sham” and held “no consequence” in the eye of law. “Marriage being the most important decision in her (Akhila)’s life can only be taken with the active involvement of her parents,” the Kerala high court observed.
August 4, 2017: Akhila’s husband Shafin Jahan, 27, filed a special leave petition in Supreme Court challenging the high court order and seeking that Akhila, who is in her father’s custody, should be produced before the court.
Jahan’s lawyers Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaisingh argued that Akhila, 24, is not minor and should be produced in court.
August 16, 2017: Hearing a petition by Akhila’s husband Shafin Jahan that challenged the high court order, the Supreme Court directed the National Investigation Agency to investigate the alleged forced conversion.
The order came after NIA, the country’s counter-terrorism organisation, said it was not an isolated case but part of a growing pattern of converting women from Hinduism to Islam.
A top court bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar said retired judge RV Raveendran would monitor the NIA probe.
October 3, 2017: CJI Dipak Misra questioned annulment of the marriage in CWP. CJI also questioned an earlier order passed in August by a bench led by former CJI JS Khehar that constituted an NIA probe into the marriage and alleged forced conversion.
Case is now adjourned to October 9, 2017.
