Kerala man in ‘love jihad’ case pins hope on SC verdict to get back wife

Shefin Jahan (26) has pinned all his hopes on the SC that will take up on Wednesday his plea challenging the Kerala high court’s verdict annulling his marriage with Akhila Ashokan alias Hadiya.

The case hit national headlines after the SC directed the NIA to study the Kerala police report on Hadiya’s conversion and subsequent allegations of “love jihad” and submit a report.

While annulling their marriage, a division bench of the high court had also made serious observations that a high-level probe was needed to find out whether there was an organised syndicate behind “love jihad” and their suspected role in recruiting youth for the ISIS. “It is a serious rights violation. I am expecting a favourable decision,” said Jahan, a Gulf returnee. He claims the police and Hadiya’s parents dragged various theories, including the disappearance of 21 youth from the state, to get the verdict in their favour.

He said Hadiya’s father (an ex-serviceman) had given an affidavit before the court saying Jahan was a member of a fundamentalist outfit and involved in three criminal cases. “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,” he claims, alleging an attempt was made to turn it into a terror-related case.

After the high court annulled their marriage on May 24, Hadiya, a homeopathy doctor, was sent to her father’s house. “She is under house arrest,” he said.

Jahan claimed he met Hadiya through a Muslim matrimony site in August last year and they married in December. Later, her father moved a habeas corpus petition and she was sent to a hostel in Kochi. Hadiya’s father said he would comment only after the court’s verdict.

SC HAD DIRECTED NIA TO STUDY THE POLICE REPORT ON AKHILA ASHOKAN ALIAS HADIYA’S CONVERSION AND ALLEGATIONS OF ‘LOVE JIHAD’