SC Restores Hadiya’s Marriage, Father Considers Review Petition

Hadiya’s father said he will consider moving a review petition in SC against its judgment restoring her marriage.

Freedom for Hadiya!

(Photo: Liju Joseph/The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Thursday, 8 March, set aside Kerala High Court's annulment of Hadiya’s marriage to Shafin Jahan.

After the decision came out, Hadiya's father KM Asokan said that he will consider moving a review petition in the apex court against its recent judgment.

"Will consider filing a review petition," he told reporters.

The bench, headed by CJI Dipak Misra, said it arrived at the conclusion after speaking to Hadiya, who said she entered the marriage of her own volition, reported Bar and Bench. The apex court also reportedly observed that the Kerala High Court “should not have annulled the marriage.”

Hadiya alias Akhila Asokan is at liberty to pursue her future endeavours according to law.

Supreme Court of India

However, the bench held that the probe initiated by the National Investigation Agency into the case would continue, as per Bar and Bench.

We clarify that the investigations by the NIA in respect to any matter of criminality may continue in accordance with law.

Supreme Court of India

Responding to the court’s direction, Maninder Singh, appearing for the investigation agency, submitted to the court that “the probe is almost complete”.

“Hadiya’s Marriage Was a Kind of an Adjustment,” Asokan

Meanwhile, Asokan maintained that his daughter's marriage with Shafin Jahan was an act of "adjustment" done by a group, reported PTI.

It was a kind of an adjustment marriage. There is no doubt. I will try to convince the court about it once again. 

KM Asokan

He, however, expressed satisfaction over the Supreme Court stating that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) may continue its investigation in the matter, PTI further said.

The Supreme Court has not cancelled NIA investigation in the matter. The court took such a decision because... Shafin Jahan could be an extremist. Investigation is going on in the case.

KM Asokan

He also said that it was painful for a father to send his daughter with an 'extremist'. "There are no words to explain it," Asokan said.

Last week, Hadiya’s father had claimed before the apex court that his efforts had prevented his daughter from being transported to "extremist-controlled territories" of Syria to be used as a "sex slave or a human bomb".

In a fresh affidavit, Asokan had said that his daughter Hadiya was a “vulnerable adult” and she “abjectly surrendered herself to complete strangers who adopted her into their fold, offering her shelter and protection and further imparted religious indoctrination in an isolated environment.”

He was responding to an affidavit filed by Hadiya, who had earlier told the apex court that she had willingly converted to Islam and wanted to remain a Muslim.

The apex court had on 22 February questioned whether the Kerala High Court could nullify a marriage between "vulnerable adults" after the father of the 25-year-old woman had justified the order.

In an affidavit filed before the top court, Hadiya said that she had married Shafin Jahan on her own will and sought the court's permission to "live as his wife". She also claimed that her husband was wrongly portrayed as a terrorist by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and he had nothing to do with the Middle East-based terror group ISIS.

On 27 November 2017, the apex court had freed Hadiya from her parents' custody and sent her to college to pursue her studies, even as she had pleaded that she should be allowed to go with her husband. The high court had annulled the marriage terming it as an instance of 'love jihad', following which Shafin Jahan had approached the apex court.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)

SC Order a Fitting Recognition of a Woman's Right on Women's Day: Amnesty International India

The Indian unit of the human rights group Amnesty International called the Supreme Court order restoring Hadiya's marriage as a "fitting recognition – on International Women's Day – of the right of every adult woman to choose her religion and partner."

This decision was long overdue, and it is a victory for Hadiya Jahan’s courage and perseverance. By setting aside the Kerala High Court’s decision that described the marriage as a ‘sham’, the order also marks an important course correction. It must now spur state governments into doing more to bring to justice people who harass and attack Hindu-Muslim couples.

Asmita Basu, Programmes Director, Amnesty International India