Kerala ‘love jihad’: NIA files status report of probe in SC

NEW DELHI: The NIA has filed in the Supreme Court its status report on the ongoing probe in an alleged ‘love jihad’ case in which a Keralabased woman had converted to Islam before marrying a Muslim man. The status report has been filed in a sealed cover as a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra would take up the case for hearing on November 27, when the woman would be brought before it for an interaction.

The top court had on August this year directed National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the controversial case of conversion and marriage of the woman.

Shafin Jahan, the alleged husband of the woman, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

The NIA had earlier alleged in the court that there was a “well-oiled machinery working in Kerala” indulging in indoctrination and radicalisation and 89 such cases have been reported. It had alleged that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and hence the court could invoke parental authority even if she was a major.

The apex court had yesterday refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea filed by the woman’s father, who had urged that interaction with his daughter be conducted in-camera, while referring to the communally sensitive nature of the case and expressed apprehension that radical elements could jeopardise the safety and privacy of his daughter and the family. The court had then said it would deal with the plea on November 27 itself when the woman is brought before it.

The counsel for her father had earlier claimed that Jahan was a radicalised man and had links with persons who used to recruit for ISIS. This allegation was refuted by Jahan’s counsel. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it wanted the Chhattisgarh government to answer a few questions on the purchase of a Agustawestland helicopter for VIP use in 2006-2007 as it was only concerned whether any “fraud or hanky-panky” was committed.

The top court said it was not questioning the choice of the helicopter made by the state government of the central Indian state as it was an executive decision, but wanted it to explain the bid for the chopper.

A bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit said there were few questions which the state government needed to answer and it may order probe only if the court was satisfied that some wrong has been committed.

“You (state government) need to answer few questions, like explain the alleged sham bid, why only that particular helicopter, opening of foreign bank account by son of the Chief Minister at the time of bidding process,” the bench said.

We are only concerned whether there was any fraud or hanky-panky committed on public exchequer. Nothing more or nothing less,” it said.

The bench said if it found that there was nothing wrong, then it will close the case.

The court was hearing a plea seeking investigation into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of the helicopter and also foreign bank accounts purportedly linked to the son of Chief Minister Raman Singh.

At the outset, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and leader of opposition and Congress leader T S Singhdeo, said that the documents received under the RTI show that although Bell helicopter was denied bid, the government was still hiring it on rent.

He said the petitioners would like to reply to the affidavit filed by the state government.

Senior advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Harish Salve, who appeared for the state government, said there was nothing wrong in the bid and at present, 24 Agustawestland helicopters were flying in the country.

Agustawestland SPA was an Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica SPA, now called Leonardo. It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-italian multinational company.

“The state government was not satisfied with Eurocopter as on July 14, 2007. It had crashed and two pilots were killed,” Jethmalani said, justifying the bidding process.

He said at that time, the existing helicopter was four years old and incurring huge cost on maintenance and servicing with replacement of its components.

The bench said it trusted the choice of the executive but only wanted to see whether there were any “extraneous reasons” for the particular choice of helicopter.

It asked Bhushan to file a reply on the affidavit and posted the matter for further hearing on January 18.

At the fag end of hearing, Salve said although they have handed over the government records to the petitioners to enable them file the reply, these documents should not find their way to the media.

Justice Lalit then asked Bhushan to ensure that the documents do not exchange hands.

During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal, who had during the last hearing, raised objections over cabinet file notings filed in the PIL and said if the documents were given by state government under RTI, then he does not wish to press his objections.

“You see all these documents are given under RTI. Your grievances are now addressed Mr. Attorney General. This is quiet a transparent government,” the bench said on a lighter note.

The apex court had on November 16 put some searching questions to the state government on the purchase of the Agusta helicopter and directed it to place the original files relating to the deal.

It had asked the state government why a global tender was issued only for the purchase of one Agustawestland chopper and how the recommendation of then state chief secretary to invite tenders from all the companies was “overturned”.s