Tiruvananthapuram: Hadiya (Hindu girl Akhila who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man) said that she is a Muslim by choice, and nobody has forced her to convert to Islam. She has married Shefin Jahan, a Muslim man.
In her first comments to media, she said that “I am a Muslim. I have embraced Islam of my own free will. Nobody has compelled me to become a Muslim. I want justice. I want to live with my husband.’’ She had boarded a flight to Delhi to appear in the Supreme court. She is accompanied by her parents.
The NIA was directed by the Supreme Court to investigate the Hadiya case after Shefin Jahan challenged the Kerala High Court’s decision to annul their marriage. Hadiya’s parents also accuse their daughter embracing Islam as radicalization.
In a report submitted earlier, the NIA claimed that there was a well-oiled machinery working in Kerala for indoctrination and radicalization of women. As per NIA, 89 such cases have been reported. Even if Hadiya was an adult, parental authority can be invoked because her case suggested that she was radicalized.
In earlier week, a report by NIA to the Supreme Court, has attached her statement in which she is learnt to have denied any pressure to convert to Islam or marry Jahan.
However, Supreme Court has said that it could take the concerns of NIA and Parents statement only after speaking to the girl in the case.
Meanwhile, Hadiya has been in her Parent’s house since May 24, and she has not stepped outside the house since then. She has been under constant Police watch with two women constables always keeping an eye on her.