Timeline of the battle in courts
2016
January 6: Ex-serviceman KM Ashokan files a first habeas corpus petition in the Kerala high court alleging that his daughter, Akhila, is missing from her college in Salem, where she was studying homeopathy, and has been forcibly converted to Islam.
January 19: Akhila, now Hadiya, testifies in court that she converted to Islam of her own free will and enrolled in a course to study the religion. The court dismisses-Ashokan’s habeas corpus petition a week later.
August 17: Ashokan files a second habeas corpus petition, this time alleging that Hadiya had been converted to Islam at the behest of the Islamic State. He alleges that plans are being made to transport her out of the country.
December 19: Hadiya marries 27-year-old Shafin Jahan. 2017
May 25: Kerala HC annuls the marriage, orders a probe into claims Hadiya was forcibly converted. She is sent to live with her parents.
August 4: Akhila’s husband files a Special Leave Petition in the SC challenging the HC order
August 16: Hearing Jahan’s petition, the SC directs the NIA to investigate the alleged forced conversion
October 3: CJI Dipak Misra questions the annulment of the marriage and also questions the order that constituted an NIA probe
Nov 27: Hadiya tells SC she married and converted of her own free will The court sends her back to college
2018
Jan 23: SC says NIA cannot probe the legitimacy of Hadiya’s marriage, calling it a personal decision by an adult.