Kerala 'love jihad': Hadiya to testify on marriage before Supreme Court today

New Delhi: All eyes are set on the Supreme Court's hearing in Kerala 'love jihad' case due on Monday. Hadiya, the young woman from Kerala who married a Muslim man, will speak before the Supreme Court on her family's allegation that she was kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam for the purpose of terror recruitment. The 25-year-old flew from Kochi to New Delhi under tight security for the hearing. Hadiya is expected to tell judges if she married Shafin Jahan of her own free will.

A look into the Kerala 'love jihad' case:

• On her way to Delhi from Kochi on Saturday, Hadiya told reporters at the airport: “I am Muslim. I want to go with my husband. Nobody forced me to convert”
• Hadiya's husband Shafin Jahan filed a complaint stating that attempts were being made to reconvert her to Hinduism
• Parents of Hadiya, whose marriage to a Muslim man has been annulled by the Kerala High Court, allege that she is incapable of taking independent decisions because she is “mentally unstable”
• Hadiya had said she embraced Islam on her own and the court should ensure her adequate protection to live with her husband Shafin Jahan
• Ever since the Kerala High Court annulled Hadiya's marriage in May, she has been under virtual house arrest at home in TV Puram, Kottayam
• Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya was in college when she met Shafin Jahan, 26, who had returned to Kerala from the Middle East, through an Islamist matrimonial website. The site is affiliated to the Popular Front of India, which, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleges, has links to terror
• Hadiya's father contested the marriage and alleged that Shafin Jahan was trying to recruit her for terror and take her to Syria. On his petition, the marriage was cancelled by the Kerala High Court
• Shafin Jahan challenged the annulment in the Supreme Court, which said it wants to hear her version. In October, the apex court had said Hadiya's consent as an adult is "prime"
• Hadiya's father has demanded for an in-camera hearing or one that is closed to the media, alleging that a public hearing would turn into a "reality show". The judges have said they will decide only when Hadiya arrives to testify
• Earlier in November, a team of the National Commission of Women (NCW) visited Hadiya in her father's house and declared her "happy and safe". The team's visit followed activist Rahul Easwar sharing a video in which she accused her father of physically abusing her
• NIA recently questioned Hadiya's husband Shafin Jahan for six hours. The country's top anti-terror agency is inquiring into 89 Hindu-Muslim marriages in Kerala.