An Indian woman’s fight to stay with her husband from a different religion, amidst strong opposition from her family is grabbing headlines in India.
24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala, Akhila Ashokan converted to Islam and then married a Muslim man, Shefin Jahan in December 2016.
She took on a new name, Hadiya Jahan.
However, her father, Asokan K.M, disapproved and filed a complaint at the local police station and a petition in the Kerala High Court in 2016.
Her family argued she was the victim of so-called ‘love jihad,’ in which it is alleged that Muslim men attract, convert and marry Hindu women.
In May this year, the Kerala High Court nullified Hadiya’s marriage to Shefin, ordered a probe into it and sent her back to her parental home with a directive that she should not interact with outsiders.
The court observed that she was a “weak and vulnerable girl capable of being exploited” and called for a probe into whether there is an organised syndicate involved in "love jihad".
Hadiya’s husband, Shefin approached the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court of India against the nullification of their marriage.
The Supreme Court asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which investigates terrorism, to probe whether her marriage was a personal decision or if there was a wider pattern in the alleged ‘love jihad’ case in the State.
On Monday, Hadiya travelled to New Delhi to appear before a bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.
With the help of a translator, Hadiya, who has been under house arrest at her parents' home in Kerala, told the court, she ‘wanted to be free’ and ‘wanted to be with her husband.’
The Supreme Court of India on Monday, in an interim order, freed her from her father's custody and allowed her to resume her studies at the homeopathic college, where she was studying previously.
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Monday said the three judges on the Bench, in their collective experience spanning many years, had not come across a case like the Hadiya one.
Justice Misra said the Hadiya case was unique one.
Hadiya’s case is part of a clutch of petitions in India’s Supreme Court where parents have alleged their daughters are victims of "love jihad", which is being investigated by the NIA.
The next hearing is scheduled for late January but in the interim, Hadiya will return to Salem in Tamil Nadu to continue her studies and will be provided police protection.
Hadiya’s husband, Shefin who has not seen Hadiya since March, told The Indian Express, “I have won the battle to get back my wife.”
The court is still to rule on whether her marriage is legal.
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