NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the judgment passed by the Kerala High Court annulling the marriage of 25 yr old marriage Hadiya to Shafin Jahan.
Kerala 'love jihad' case – Supreme Court restored the marriage of Hadiya, also set aside the Kerala High Court order which had annulled her validity of marriage. pic.twitter.com/DUaes45TxD
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud passed the judgment saying that Hadiya can’t be in anyone’s custody and that she is free to follow her pursuits.
“She can complete her studies, live with whosoever she wants. Nothing remained for the court to decide after she expressed her will,” an apex court bench said.
The apex court, however, allowed the National Investigation Agency to continue their investigation into the allegations of love jihad.
Earlier on Thursday, the bench put up the matter for order after lunch on the plea filed by a man, who claimed to be the woman’s husband, challenging a Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage with her.
Earlier this week, the father of the woman, who is alleged to be a victim of love jihad, claimed before the apex court that his efforts prevented his daughter from being transported to “extremist-controlled territories” of Syria to be used as a “sex slave or a human bomb”.
On November 27 last year, the apex court had freed Hadiya from her parents’ custody and sent her to college to pursue her studies, even as she had pleaded that she should be allowed to go with her husband.
The high court had annulled the marriage terming it as an instance of ‘love jihad’, following which Jahan had approached the apex court.