Woman Of Conviction

Hadiya persuades the Supreme Court to free her from her father’s custody

- Namrata Biji Ahuja & Soni Mishra

I want my freedom.... I want to live true to my faith.... I want to be with my husband.” Barely five feet tall, dressed in a red-and-white salwar suit and her head covered in a red scarf, 25-year old Akhila Asokan, alias Hadiya, spoke loud and clear before a three judge bench of the Supreme Court on November 27. The judges—Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud— had, on October 30, asked Hadiya’s father to present her before the court to hear her version before it examined the Kerala High Court’s annulment of her marriage to 26-year-old Shafin Jahan, alias Chikku.

The High Court had annulled the marriage after her father, K.M. Asokan, filed a petition claiming his daughter was a victim of ‘love jihad’ or forced religious conversion. Shafin challenged the annulment in the Supreme Court, which directed the National Investigation Agency to investigate the matter.

The probe that ensued brought further clouds of suspicion over the marriage. It showed that the freedom Hadiya referred to not only involved the complications of an inter-religion marriage, but much more.

The NIA investigation found that Shafin’s parents also had an inter-religion marriage. His father, Shajahan, is a convert to Islam from Hinduism and mother, Rejula, is a Muslim. In 2014, his parents separated because of a family dispute. Following this, Shafin left for Muscat, Oman, on January 1, 2015, where he worked as administrative secretary at Muttrah Pharmacy LLC.

Shafin returned to Kerala on November 22, 2016, to get married. He wanted to return to Muscat with his wife and a new job visa. A few months later, the High Court annulled the marriage.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the NIA, told the Supreme Court that Hadiya’s was a case of indoctrination. “It is psychological kidnapping and brainwashing,” he said.