New Delhi: Hadiya, the young woman from Kerala who married a Muslim but has been staying with her family since her marriage was cancelled on their complaint, came to the Supreme Court in a black hijab or head-scarf today and said: "I want my freedom...I want to see my husband." After interacting with her for the first time, the judges released her from her parents' home and directed that she should go to Tamil Nadu to complete her homeopathy college course and stay in the hostel. Hadiya's family alleges that she was kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam by Sheffin Jahan, the man she married, in what has come to be known as the "love jihad case".
Hadiya, 25, told three judges that she had been kept in "unlawful custody" for 11 months by the Kerala High Court and later her parents. She also said she wanted to complete her studies, and that her husband would support her financially.
The 25-year-old had to wait for nearly two hours to speak as arguments revolved around whether the hearing should be held in camera, or behind closed doors, with the National Investigation Agency building a case about terror links.
The judges wanted to hear from Hadiya if she married Shafin Jahan a year ago of her own free will, pointing out that consent as an adult is "prime".
Before taking a flight to Delhi, Hadiya shouted to reporters at the Kochi airport: "I have not been forcefully converted... I have not been forcefully married to Shafin Jahan. I married him out of my own will and I want to live with my husband."
Her father KM Asokan has argued in court that she "does not have an independent mind" and is brainwashed and heavily indoctrinated, which indicates that her testimony cannot be relied upon.
Today, the family's lawyer said that the website through which Hadiya and Shafin Jahan married "is a sham" and forced conversion and terror recruitment was the true motive.
Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya was in college when she met Shafin Jahan, 26, who had returned from Oman, through an Islamist matrimonial website. The National Investigation Agency alleges that the website has links to a terror group.
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 in May by the Kerala High Court, which ordered Hadiya to return to her family. Since then, she had been living at her father's home in Kottayam and has been allowed no contact with outsiders without her father's approval.
Shafin Jahan challenged the annulment in the Supreme Court. He said Hadiya stayed with him for only 48 hours before her father went to the police. He has filed a complaint with the police, claiming her parents have been trying to convert her back to Hinduism.
The National Investigation Agency, the country's top anti-terror body, recently questioned Hadiya's husband for six hours. The agency is inquiring into 89 marriages in Kerala.
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