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Kerala Love Jihad: She embraced Islam before I met her says man facing NIA probe

Shafin Jahan claims to have met Hadiya on a matrimonial website

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The decision to marry a girl who converted to Islam has brought upon a National Investigation Agency probe against Shafin Jahan. The man who is facing probe in a suspected Love Jihad case by the NIA and his advocate tell OneIndia why they believe that Hadiya and Jahan's fundamental rights are being violated by none other than the judiciary.

Kerala Love Jihad: She embraced Islam before I met her says man facing NIA probe

"The conversion was done in January 2016. She was officially converted in an institution Therbiyathul Islam Sabha in Kozhikode. The certificate of conversion has been submitted in the Kerala High court which led to the quashing of the first Habeas Corpus case. In January 2016, she also joined an Islamic institution (Sathya Sarani) to study and did a two-month course and completed in March 2016. Jahan met her only after she had already converted. Where is the Love Jihad here?," asked Naseer, Jahan's advocate.

Shafin Jahan was called a 'stranger' in open court. Two days after his marriage to Hadiya previously Akhila, he was dismissed from the court hall and his marriage was annulled. "Application had been filed for a marriage certificate but the Kerala High Court asked the sub-registrar's office to not register the marriage or issue a certificate," said Jahan's advocate.

"Akhila was already Hadiya when she came to us," says Kerala Islamic centre

According to Shafin Jahan, a native of Kollam, he met Hadiya months after she had converted to Islam. Jahan, who worked in a private firm in Oman found Hadiya's profile on a Muslim matrimonial website in April 2016. His advocates insist that Hadiya had herself created the profile while she was living with Sainaba, a social worker after the court let her choose between Sainaba and her parents.

"Jahan knew that Hadiya was a converted Muslim since all the details were uploaded on the matrimonial website. He contacted her in April 2016. Hadiya's father filed the second Habeus Corpus case in August 2016. Jahan came down to India in November and the couple got married on December 19, 2016. Within two days i.e., on December 21, 2016, the court annulled their marriage. They stayed together only for two days. Now he has been restrained by a court order from meeting his wife," said Jahan's advocate Naseer.

Violation of Human rights

Jahan has claimed that his personal life and choices have been blown out of proportion simply because Hadiya's father raked up the example of some Kerala youth converting to Islam and leaving the country to join the ISIS.

"Hadiya does not even hold a passport. She has neither applied for one. All her certificates are with her father. The father claimed that she was under detention at an Islamic study centre but the truth is that she is now under detention forced upon her by the courts," Nasser said.

Hadiya had appeared before the Kerala High Court in the first Habeus Corpus petition on August 22, 2016. "She told the court that she had converted out of her choice and wanted to study Islam. She even asserted that she was not being kept in detention," he added. In fact, Jahan alleges that Hadiya is being kept under detention now.

"The court sent her to a hostel in the second Habeus Corpus case. She was treated like a terrorist. The police forcefully shifted her to her parent's house under the court's order and now she is under house arrest. She neither has access to phone, television or anyone from the outside. Her human rights are being violated and all this is happening by the order of the courts," he added,

Jahan's tryst with the SDPI

Jahan's life in Kollam was chequered with the police claiming that there were cases filed against him. The police also insisted that he was active with the Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of the Popular Front of India. "So what is wrong in that? SDPI is an organisation that is open to anyone. It is not a crime to be part of SDPI, Naseer aded.

Jahan also has a criminal case against him. The passport office had sent him notices alleging discrepancies in claims made by him. The police told the Kerala High Court that Jahan had hidden details of a criminal case against him while applying for renewal of his passport. "The police claim that there are four cases against him but only one is really in his name. All three others name different persons. Even the one case that he is involved in, is a notice issued by the passport office inquiring why he did not mention a case under section 323 IPC while re-applying," insisted Jahan's advocate.

The NIA on Friday officially launched its investigation into the case. Jahan is likely to be questioned in the next few days. Meanwhile, Hadiya continues to live with her parents. In a video released, illegally, by Rahul Eashwar, an activist in Kerala, shows the woman complaining about the way her parents are treating her for following her religion.

OneIndia News

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