I'm Muslim, nobody forced me to convert: Hadiya before leaving Kerala

Kochi: The Supreme Court will hear the Kerala ‘love Jihad’ case on Monday. Hadiya who has been asked to be present before the apex court during the hearing said, “I am a Muslim. I want to go with my husband. Nobody forced me to convert.” 

Hadiya, on Saturday, left for Delhi for the hearing of the case on November 27.

The Supreme Court on October 30 had directed Hadiya’s father to produce her before the court on next date of hearing (November 27).

Earlier on Saturday, Hadiya's husband Shafin Jahan filed a complaint stating that attempts were being made to reconvert her to Hinduism ahead of her being produced in the apex court on Monday.

The Supreme Court had on Wednesday refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea filed by the father of the woman, who converted to Islam before marrying Shafin, that interaction with the woman be conducted in-camera.

The counsel for Ashokan KM, Hadiya's father, sought an urgent hearing on his plea saying that it would become infructuous if the earlier order mandating open court interaction is not modified.

Ashokan referred to the communally sensitive nature of the case and sought in-camera interaction on some grounds including that radical elements could jeopardise the safety and privacy of his daughter and the family.

The apex court had earlier observed that the free consent of a major to marriage has to be ascertained amid an assertion by National Investigation Agency (NIA) that an indoctrinated person may be incapable of giving free consent to marriage.

The NIA had claimed that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and hence the court could invoke parental authority even if she was a major.

The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.