Probe jihad, not marriage

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the National Investigation Agency for trying to probe the marriage of Akhila Ashokan (25), a Hindu girl from Kerala, with a Muslim boy, and hyping it as ‘Love Jihad.'

Akhila, who converted to Islam as Hadiya for marrying Shafin Jahan, had told the Apex Court on November 27 that she had married a man of her choice and did not want to live with her parents.

She is since studying in a Tamil Nadu college and living in a hostel with the college principal as her local guardian, as decided by the court after interacting with her.

Hadiya and Shafin had met through a matrimonial website affiliated to an organisation, which the NIA believes is linked to terror. The Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Judges A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud told the NIA that its probe will not affect validity of Hadiya's marriage as the issues can't be clubbed with criminal laws.

"We cannot go into the validity of her marriage. How can we say her marriage is not valid when she thinks otherwise? She can choose independently," the court said.

It observed that the criminal law issues cannot be clubbed with the question whether the marriage was valid or not. The NIA probe would make no difference to the status of Hadiya and Shafin’s marriage, the Bench underlined.

It took the position when the NIA claimed it had made substantial progress in the investigation conducted after the Apex Court's direction in November.

"We are not concerned with it. Whether you carry on your investigation or arrest someone, we are not concerned, but you cannot investigate their marital status," the Bench said. It said the Apex Court was only concerned with the limited question of cancellation of Hadiya's marriage by the Kerala High Court in the Habeas Corpus petition before it.

"We will only examine whether the court can cancel the marriage. We can't question the legitimacy of her marriage. We are only concerned with the choice of an adult to marry someone. It is Hadiya who will decide who is a good human being or bad," the bench said.