Hadiya is an adult, NIA can’t probe her marriage: Top court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) cannot probe the validity of the marriage of a Muslim couple that was annulled by the Kerala high court last year in a decision that had sparked a debate over personal freedoms in India.

Thecase is that of a 24-year-old woman, Hadiya, who converted from Hinduism to Islam, and her marriage with 27-year-old Shafin Jahan. Hadiya’s parents allege that the union was the result of a larger conspiracy involving forced conversion, while she says that it was a personal choice.

The court, which did not give a ruling but only made verbal observations on Tuesday, fixed February 22 to hear the case again and made Ha di ya a party so that she could give her response in writing.

“We make it clear that the question before us is whether the high court could have annulled the marriage of two adults. This has to be separated from any kind of criminal conspiracy, activity and action otherwise it would create a bad precedent in law. You (NIA) cannot investigate someone’s marital status,” the bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra told the NIA counsel, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh. “Whether she made an independent choice, only she knows. She is a 24-year-old. We can not get into her thinking ,” the bench said.

When Singh pointed to th etop court’s August 16, 2017 order directing the NIA probe and the same cannot be allowed to go waste, the bench reiterated: “Whether she made an independent choice, only she knows. She is a 24-year-old. We cannot get into her thinking. You cannot probe a marriage. Legitimacy of marriage can only be questioned either by the woman or the man. The NIA can carry on with its probe but there should not be any kind of umbrella of this court.”

The court was hearing a peti- tion filed by Jahan challenging the Kerala HC‘s order last May. The statements came after Jahan’s counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, asked the court to stop the NIA probe.

The NIA investigation had started following an order by the SC last August.

Makingit clear that it will only address the legal questions raised in Jahan’s petition, the bench said: “We are only concerned with the choice of an adult. Whether she is brainwashed or not is not our concern. Now she is not in the confines of anyone. If she says ‘I am happy’, then we will not go into the sequences of how she married.”