The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the National Investigating Agency to probe Kerala Love Jihad Case. The probe will be supervised by former SC judge Justice RV Raveendran.
Responding to the SC's order, the Kerala government said had no objection to the NIA probe if that's what the apex court desired.
The NIA has been roped into the probe after it observed that “love jihad is real”. According to News18, the SC had asked the NIA to access the case records from the Kerala Police to get a better picture. The NIA had said that it had observed a pattern of conversion in Kerala.
Speaking to Times Now, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy hailed the SC’s decision stating that it was a ‘happy day for all patriots’.
Meanwhile, Assaduddin Owaisi challeneged the NIA probe questioning the government’s stance on religious conversion.
If someone chooses to change their religion, will they become a threat to national security?Owaisi to ANI
The case involves Akhila Ashokan rechristened as Hadiya upon conversion to Islam, and Shefin Jahan, an NRI from the Gulf.
The Kerala High Court had annulled their marriage on 24 May, after making observations ruled that a high-level probe was required to study the possibilities of a 'love jihad', and a suspected ISIS link. Jahan submitted a plea to the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's annulment.
The case was brought to the High Court's notice when Hadiya's father KM Ashokan filed an haebeus corpus petition following her marriage to Jahan in December last year. Ashokan claimed that his daughter was being influenced while she was pursuing her studies, and was being converted with the intention of sending her to Syria.
Ashokan also reportedly gave an affidavit before the Kerala High Court that claimed that Jahan was a member of a fundamentalist organisation and had three criminal cases against his name.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Jahan said,
Though I was a member of the Popular Front of India, I am not active now. There is only a single case and that too relates to campus politics
Hadiya is currently under house arrest and Jahan claims that she is still practising Islam despite being pushed to re-convert by her family.
Jahan alleged that he had met Hadiya through an Islamic matrimonial site in August last year, and they subsequently decided to get married in December.
The Supreme Court has said that after getting inputs from the Kerala Police and the NIA probe, it will interview Hadiya to get her view.
The Supreme Court had earlier appointed former SC judge KS Radhakrishnan as the supervisor to the NIA pprobe. His appointment was, however, challenged by Jahan and was later reiterated by Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaisingh who opined that a non-Keralaite judge should be given charge of the probe, following which the SC chose Justice Raveendran.
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