Two days ahead of appearing before the Supreme Court in the Kerala ‘love jihad’ case, Hadiya, alias Akhila Ashokan, said on Friday that nobody forced her to convert to Islam.
“I am a Muslim. I want to go with my husband. Nobody forced me to convert,” said Hadiya, who will be produced before the top court on November 27 in Delhi.
Hadiya is being accompanied by her parents and 15 police personnel, including three women officials, to Delhi.
Shafin Jahan, Hadiya’s Muslim husband, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court had annulled his marriage.
The apex court on October 30 had directed Hadiya's father, Asokan to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Shafin Jahan.
Earlier on Saturday, Jahan had filed a complaint alleging that attempts were being made to reconvert her to Hinduism ahead of her being produced in the top court.
On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the application for in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court on November 27 would be taken up on that day itself after a lawyer mentioned Asokan's application for an early hearing.
The court in the last hearing had said that before examining the latter issue, it would like to ascertain if Hadiya had voluntarily converted to Islam and her views on her marriage.
The court is hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.
The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala. On November 18, an NIA team arrived at her home for the second time and took statements from her and her parents to present their case before the court.
