Hadiya case: Apex court orders Kerala Police to share probe details with NIA

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Kerala Police to share with the NIA the probe details of a case wherein a Muslim man’s marriage to a Hindu woman was annulled by the Kerala High Court, which termed it a “love jihad”.

A division bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud took serious note of the man’s objection to sharing of the records with the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

“We want the whole picture. Let the whole picture come before us. Why should anybody doubt the NIA? Are you doubting the NIA? It’s a government agency. We asked them to assist us,” the bench told the man’s counsel.

The bench said it gathered the “impression that the petitioner (husband) does not desire the correct and independent view of the controversy” to be brought before the apex court.

“We wanted to see whether it is an isolated case or a larger issue is involved,” the bench said.

The apex court asked the Kerala Director General of Police to share the records of investigation conducted so far with the NIA so as to “enable them be alive to the situation at present”.

The bench said it has asked the specialised agency to weigh in for “neutral and unbiased assistance” in the case.

“If there are issues going beyond the purview of Kerala, they should be able to assist us. Is this a small pocket individual issue or is it an issue that has wider ramifications that should concerns us? We want them to help us in this determination,” said the bench.

The court, however, allowed the man to file a response on the NIA plea that sought the court’s direction to the police to allow it to access to police records relating to the case investigation.

The Kerala High Court on May 25 had declared as “null and void” the marriage of a 24-year-old Hindu woman, who converted to Islam to wed a Muslim man in December 2016, terming

The Kerala High Court on May 25 had declared as “null and void” the marriage of a 24-year-old Hindu woman, who converted to Islam to wed a Muslim man in December 2016, terming it a “sham” and ordered Hadiya, as she is now known, be placed in her parents’ protective custody