Kerala Love Jihad: Supreme Court asks NIA to find if there is an ISIS angle
07:08AM Wed 16 Aug, 2017
The Supreme Court today asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the marriage of a Muslim man to a Hindu woman converted to Islam - now referred to as the Kerala 'love jihad' case - and find out if there is an Islamic State (ISIS) angle to it.
"Everyone wants a fair probe. We can appoint a retired Supreme Court judge. There are some serious remarks by the High Court that need to be looked into," the Supreme Court observed, adding that the investigation will be conducted under the guidance and supervision of retired Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for husband Jahan, told the Supreme Court: "The NIA has made many U-turns in the past. How reliable is a probe by the NIA? The girl must be called in by the Supreme Court."
The case involves the marriage of a Muslim man Shafin Jahan, 27, to a Hindu woman, Hadiya, 24, a union later annulled by the Kerala High Court, which termed it a case of "love jihad".
What's shocking about the case is the fact that Hadiya had told the Kerala High Court that she consented to the marriage, and that there was no forceful conversion. But the court wasn't convinced. When Jahan later moved the Supreme Court, even the top court expressed its scepticism.
Last week, despite objections by Jahan, the Supreme Court ordered the Kerala Police to share with the NIA the probe details of the case.
"We want the whole picture. Let the whole picture come before us. Why should anybody doubt the NIA? Are you doubting the NIA? It's a government agency. We asked them to assist us," a division bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud told the man's counsel.
The bench said it gathered the "impression that the petitioner (husband) does not desire the correct and independent view of the controversy" to be brought before the apex court. "We wanted to see whether it is an isolated case or a larger issue is involved," the bench said.
WHAT IS THE CASE ABOUT
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On May 25, the Kerala High Court had declared as "null and void" the marriage of 24-year-old Hindu woman, who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man in December 2016, terming it a "sham" and ordered Hadiya, as she is now known, be placed in her parents' protective custody.
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Hadiya, earlier known as Akhila, was a homeopathy student in Kerala when she converted to Islam and changed her name. Her husband Shafin Jahan had met her with his family in August 2016 in response to her posting on a marriage website and they got married last December.
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Jahan, 27, challenged the High Court order in the top court, saying the order was an "an insult to the independence of women in India".
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Approaching the Supreme Court with a request to order Hadiya's father to produce her in court, he had claimed she had converted to Islam of her own volition two years prior to their marriage.
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Hadiya's father, however, had said that she was a "helpless victim" trapped by a "well-oiled racket" which used "psychological measures" to indoctrinate people and convert them to Islam.
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Hadiya's father had alleged that Jahan is a criminal and that his daughter was trapped by a network with connections to Popular Front of India and even the Islamic State.
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Love jihad is a term used by right-wing Hindu groups to describe inter-faith marriages which they say is an Islamist conspiracy to convert Hindu women through marriage or coercion.
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