NIA love jihad

Hadiya Denies Father’s Fresh Claims That She Is Under ‘Illegal Detention’

The Kerala woman’s conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage to a Muslim man resulted in a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court about the autonomy of adult women.

New Delhi: Hadiya, the Kerala woman whose conversion to Islam and marriage to a Muslim man resulted in a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court about the autonomy of adult women, has denied her father’s fresh allegation that she is under illegal detention by her husband.

According to the Indian Express, the homeopathy doctor said in a video on Saturday that she has separated from her first husband Shafin Jahan and has remarried. “The Constitution has given the right for every person to enter into marriage and get out of the relationship. It is a common thing in society. I don’t understand why society is getting irritated in my case. I am a grown-up who is capable of making decisions. When I could not continue the marriage (with Jahan), I got out of it. Now, I have married another person of my choice. I am happy and living as a Muslim. My parents are also aware about the remarriage” she said, according to the report.

The video was released a day after her father K.M. Ashokan moved a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala high court alleging that he could not reach Hadiya over the phone and her homeopathy clinic was shut.

But Hadiya said on Saturday that she doesn’t know why her father moved the high court. She did not disclose details of her new partner, saying there was no need to make them public. She has moved to Thiruvananthapuram from Mallapuram, according to Indian Express.

According to Hindustan Times, she said her “father has created troubles making it difficult for me to live. There have been cyberattacks on me which has made my life difficult. My father has always been made a tool by the Sangh Parivar forces. It is sad that he is allowing himself to be used that way.”

Hadiya also denied the claims that her phone was switched off, stating instead that she was “in constant touch with her parents”. “I have remarried and I don’t think it needs to be a subject of discussion again. I am a mature adult who is capable of taking her own decisions,” she said.

Background

Born into a Hindu family in Kottayam, Hadiya said she was drawn to Islam when studying in Tamil Nadu. She converted to that faith and married Jahan. Her father filed a habeas corpus plea in 2016, challenging the marriage. The high court nullified the marriage and ordered her to be placed in the protective custody of her Hindu parents or an institution, so that she is “prevented from being a further victim of love jihad”. The judgment was perhaps the first time that a constitutional court used this term, a conspiracy theory that claims there is a plot to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.

The Supreme Court in March 2018 restored her marriage and allowed her to live with her husband Jahan. The top court allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the incident to see if she was forced to convert to Islam. The agency later closed the case, finding no evidence to support such a claim.

‘Love Jihad’ Not Defined by Laws, No Case Reported, Says Govt

Union Minister of State for home G. Kishan Reddy said in parliament that the constitution offers freedom to profess religion.

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday said the term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws and no case of ‘love jihad’ has been reported by any of the central agencies.

Union Minister of State for home G. Kishan Reddy said the Article 25 of the constitution provides for the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health.

Various courts, including the Kerala high court, have upheld this view.

“The term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws. No such case of ‘love jihad’ has been reported by any of the central agencies,” he said in reply to a written question.

The minister, however, said two cases from Kerala involving inter-faith marriage have been probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Court Can’t Decide Marriage Is Invalid, Hadiya Can Choose Independently, Says SC Judge

Controversial case pits advocates of the autonomy of an adult woman to decide whom she marries against conspiracy theorists who see Hadiya’s marriage as part of a supposed Muslim plot to seduce and convert Hindu women.

Controversial case pits advocates of the autonomy of an adult woman to decide whom she marries against conspiracy theorists who see Hadiya’s marriage as part of a supposed Muslim plot to seduce and convert Hindu women.

Supreme Court of India. Credit: Reuters

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today observed that the National Investigative Agency cannot take a call on whether the marriage of the 24-year-old Hadiya with Shafin Jahan is legitimate. “If she (Hadiya) has no issues (with the marriage), that’s the end of the issue,” LiveLaw quoted Justice D.Y. Chandrachud as saying.

His remark came during hearings on the controversial case which pits advocates of the autonomy of an adult woman to decide whom she marries against conspiracy theorists who see Hadiya’s marriage as part of a supposed Muslim plot to seduce and convert Hindu women.

“How can we say marriage is not valid when she says she married…she can choose independently. She is 24 years old,” Bar and Bench quoted the bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and Chandrachud as saying. “Marriage has to be separate from criminal activity, otherwise we will be creating a bad precedent in law.”

The marriage between Hadiya and Jahan was annulled by the Kerala high court, a move that was criticised widely by women’s rights activists and others for infringing on a woman’s personal rights and saying that she does not have the agency to choose her own partner. The high court had also ordered Hadiya to remain in the custody of her parents. Jahan had appealed this decision in the Supreme Court.

Also read: Hadiya’s Encounter With the Courts Reveals the Continued Stranglehold of Brahmanical Order

The lawyer representing Hadiya’s father, who had insisted from the beginning that the marriage is a case of ‘love jihad‘ even though Hadiya converted to Islam before she met Jahan, said that the circumstances leading to the marriage needed to be investigated. To this, the court said that the couple’s marital status was not a matter for investigation. The NIA can continue with its probe but it cannot investigate into the marital status of the man and the woman, PTI quoted the court as saying.

Shafin Jahan and Hadiya. Credit: Facebook/Hadiya

The NIA told the court that it has made “substantial progress” in its probe into ‘love jihad’ in Kerala, PTI reported.

The Supreme Court also said today that it is not within the courts’ jurisdiction to decide whether or not a grown woman should live with her parents. “When the girl says I don’t want to go with father, how can the court compel her? She is an adult, she appeared and made a statement,” LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.

Also read: SC Should Defend Women’s Privacy, Autonomy, Not Perpetuate ‘Love Jihad’ Myth

The court also accepted lawyer Kapil Sibal’s request to make Hadiya a party to the proceedings, and said that the matter will next be heard on Fenruary 22.

In November 2017, the Supreme Court had ‘allowed’ Hadiya to go back to college and finish her course in homeopathic studies. The bench directed the college and the university to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities.

During the course of the hearing then, Hadiya had said that she wanted to live with her husband and that she had married Jahan of her own free will. She was produced in the court after the bench had ordered her father to bring her, so that they could ascertain her mental health.