Love Jihad: Hadiya very happy' with Supreme Court ruling

SALEM: Hadiya, aka Akhila Ashokan, the 24-year-old medico whose conversion to Islam drew the attention of the nation and triggered a NIA probe into alleged love jihad, on Thursday said she was “very happy” at the Supreme Court setting aside the Kerala high court order annulling her marriage to Muslim Shafin Jahan. “I am very happy,” Hadiya told a large contingent of reporters waiting outside the Sivaraj Homeopathy College near here, where she is a house surgeon. “I can make further comments only after consulting my lawyer,” said the BHMS student, when pressed further on the Supreme Court verdict setting aside the high court order annulling her marriage with Jahan. 

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, however, said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) may 
continue its investigation whether Jahan had any links with terror groups, including the ISIS.

Hailing from Vaikom in Kerala, Akhila Ashokan married Jahan, said to be an active member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) affiliated Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Her family had alleged that she was brainwashed and her marriage was forced and was a case of ‘love jihad’, but Hadiya said she married Jahan of her own volition after coming into contact on a Muslim marriage site. She had converted to Islam after practicing the religion for some three years as she was impressed by her women Muslim friends praying five times in a day and leading virtuous life.

Following a legal battle initiated by her atheist father Ashokan, an ex-serviceman, the Kerala high court annulled her marriage in May 2017 but Jahan moved an appeal before the Supreme Court, where Hadiya submitted that her conversion to Islam and her marriage to Jahan were of her own volition. While the hearing was on, the Apex Court permitted her to move out of her parents’ house and resume her homeo studies at the Salem college. 

Hadiya, who returned to the college in November last year and is staying at the institute’s ladies hostel near-by since then, has been avoiding the media, though her parents had met her a couple of times. Hadiya is staying at college hostel in Sooramangalam like any other student without any special facilities. She will stay here for the next six months to complete her house surgeon duties and secure the degree.