SC adjourns Love Jihad case to October 30

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear the Love Jihad case in which a Hindu woman was allegedly forced to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim man on October 30.

CJI Dipak Misra reiterated that prima-facie he felt that the girl's father cannot be given her custody.

Hinting that the girl will be summoned soon, the bench said: "in a habeus corpus petition we will not abdicate our responsibility to interview the girl"

The NIA counsel highlighted multiple times in court that there are certain provisions of law that which give parents rights overgrown children. The NIA counsel also claimed that the girls are "hypnotised," to which Shafin Jahan's counsel Dushyant Dave yelled in court, "This is politics."

This led to exchange of heated arguments and evoked a sharp reaction from the CJI, who chided them for their behaviour.

On Saturday, the Kerala government had questioned the Supreme Court-mandated NIA probe into the marriage of a Hindu woman with a Muslim man after she converted to Islam.

Submitting its affidavit in the Supreme Court, the state home department has pointed out that during the two-month long "thorough" investigation by the Kerala Police, no such incriminating material was found that called for an intervention by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

During a hearing on this case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had observed that "prima facie", the high court could not have nullified the marriage of a Hindu woman with a Muslim man after her conversion.

The court also remarked that a father cannot have control over a 25-year-old woman and that such a claim can't be made in respect of a major.

The case

Hadiya, 24 who was staying with her friends at Malappuram in Kerala married Shafin Jahan on December 19 2016. Both were introduced to each other through a Muslim matrimonial website in August 2016. Two days after their wedding, Hadiya was asked to appear before the court in a habeas corpus petition filed by her parents. Her parents approached the High Court alleging forceful conversion.

In August, her husband Jahan moved the Supreme Court against the High Court's decision to annul the marriage.

OneIndia News