NIA ends Kerala probe, there’s love but no jihad

At least one among the 11 marriages under examination was purely a matter of relationship gone sour

SENIOR NIA OFFICIAL

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) “examination” of interfaith marriages in Kerala has not unearthed any evidence of coercion that can result in prosecution in these cases, officials familiar with the matter said. One of them added that while there may have been efforts to facilitate the conversion of either the man or the woman involved, there was no evidence of a larger criminal design.

“The NIA is not supposed to file any further report in this regard in the SC. As far as the NIA is concerned, the matter stands closed as the agency has not found any evidence to suggest that in any of these cases either the man or the woman was coerced to convert,” said a senior agency official.

The agency picked 11 cases of interfaith marriages in Kerala for examination as part of its probe into so-called cases of “love jihad” at the instance of the Supreme Court. These 11 cases were picked up from a list of 89 interfaith marriages t referred to the NIA by the Kerala police.

The investigation happened in the context of the celebrated Hadiya case. Hadiya converted to Islam and married Shafin Jahan, but her marriage was annulled by the Kerala HC on the basis of a petition filed by her father; the SC set aside the high court order.

“At least one among the 11 marriages under examination was purely a matter of relationship gone sour. In other cases, a similar set of people and organisations associated with Popular Front of India were involved in helping either the man or the woman involved in a relationship to convert to Islam, but didn’t find any vidence to bring formal charges against these persons,” added the official.