Kerala love jihad: Supreme Court sends Hadiya to Salem to pursue studies
New Delhi: After a high-voltage drama in the Supreme Court, Hadiya a.k.a. Akhila walked free after six months’ confinement in her parental home ever since she married Shafin Jehan and the Kerala High Court annulled the marriage in May. The Supreme Court on Monday sent her to Salem in Tamil Nadu to enable her to pursue her homoeopathic studies in Sivaraj homoeopathy medical college and complete her internship/house surgeon training. She told the court that she wanted to be independent and complete the course which she could not do as she was confined to the house.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled straight to Salem at the earliest. The bench also directed the college and the university to readmit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities. The issue of her marriage will be decided later, the bench said. The order came after the Hadiya, 24, told the court, “I want to meet my husband. I want to complete my studies and want to live my life according to my faith and as a good citizen. I want my freedom. I have been in unlawful custody for last six months.”
The bench appointed the dean of the homoeopathic college to approach it in case of any problem. Hadiya has been staying at her parental home since May. When Hadiya wanted her husband to be the guardian, Justice Chandrachud said, “no husband can be a guardian of his wife. At least, I can’t say that I am the guardian for my wife.” During the hearing, which went on for over two-and-a-half hours, Hadiya made it clear to the judges that she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jehan.
When Justice Chandrachud asked her about her dreams for the future, she said, “I want freedom." The chief Justice conceded that this was a peculiar habeas corpus case and that he had never seen such a case in his tenure as a judge. When the CJI suggested that the Tamil Nadu government would bear the expenses of her study, Hadiya said that she wanted her husband to meet the expenses and not the state. The court fixed the hearing on Jehan's plea against the Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage with Hadiya to the third week of January.
Earlier, Mr. Shaym Divan, appearing for the girl’s father Ashokan, urged the court to reconsider its earlier order to have open court hearing and said there should be in-camera proceedings as various issues were involved in the case. He produced a transcript of a voice clip of one Abdul Rasheed, an ISIS recruiter, in evidence of his association with the Popular Front of India, the Islamic fundamentalist organisation with which the present petitioner Shafin Jehan was associated. Additional solicitor-general Maninder Singh urged the court to go through the NIA’s findings, which had demonstrated that the marriage of Hadiya was a sham as she was radicalised and was not in a proper frame of mind to take an independent decision. This was strongly opposed by senior counsel Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising, who argued that the purpose of the hearing was to ascertain whether she wanted to go free or not.
“Let her go wherever she wants but the court must speak to her and hear her views. Even if her marriage is a wrong decision, she is entitled to take a decision to go with him or not. There is no need to give communal colour to the whole issue.” Justice Chandrachud referred to the arguments of Mr Maninder Singh that there was a pattern to this case and it was a programmed radicalisation and said, “we need to examine whether the Stockholm syndrome (of praising the abductors who kidnapped the person) is true or not. We consider her individual autonomy, which has a cherished constitutional value. But can we ignore other issues is the question before us.”
The CJI told Mr. Sibal, “there are two issues before us, one whether we should examine Hadiya before or after examining the materials placed before us.” However, both Mr. Sibal and Ms Jaising insisted that the court should ask Hadiya questions as she had been waiting for over 90 minutes to speak. Finally, the bench relented and ascertained Hadiya’s views and decided to send her to the Salem college for further studies. The bench posted the matter for further hearing in January 2018.
