SC adjourns hearing in marriage case

A high-pitched war of words between two lawyers on Monday led the Supreme Court to adjourn the hearing in the sensitive Kerala marriage case to October 30, saying it would not accept submissions unrelated to the matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra got irked when senior lawyer Dushayant Dave, appearing for a Kerala Muslim man whose marriage was annulled, referred to the names of BJP President Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and imputed political motive.

“Yogi Adityanath spoke of ‘love jihad’ in Kerala... this court should know the ground realities,” Dave said, adding that Shah had also visited Kerala.

“Unless a political personality’s conduct directly affects this case, let us keep it out of here. We do not have to bring the extra-legal authority here who is unrelated,” the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for NIA, vehemently opposed Dave’s submission and said this was “politics” and the senior lawyer was “browbeating” the court which was “obnoxious and unpardonable”.

The bench then took on Dave and said, “This kind of arguments cannot be tolerated” in the court and made clear that it would not hear the case today.

At the outset, Dave said the first petition filed in the high court was disposed off. Later, the second plea was entertained, which had led to the annulment of marriage between Shafin Jahan and the Hindu woman who had converted before the marriage, he said.

He also termed Kerala as a multi-cultural society where inter-faith marriages have been taking place and being accepted by the society and, in this regard, he also referred to a recent speech of President Ram Nath Kovind.

Dave then started dealing with the so-called political angle to the case, which was objected to by the bench and the counsel for the National Investigation Agency (NIA).