Kerala: Hadiya who was Akhila Ashokan and married to Shafin Jahan denied forced conversion and said that she wants to die as Muslim.
According to the report published in NDTV, an activist, Rahul Easwar who shot video of the woman said that she wants to continue and die as Muslim. Giving the details to the newsmen, the activist said that for the past three months, Hadiya is living in an apartment with just one room and one bathroom. He further disclosed that she is not allowed to leave home and go out anywhere. In the video, Hadiya can be seen wearing a head cover.
It is also reported that she said to her mother, “Is keeping me like this enough? Is this all my life is going to be?” whereas her mother said, “I want my daughter back,”
Currently, her marriage is under investigation by National Investigation Agency (NIA). On Wednesday, Supreme Court directed NIA to probe the issues raised by a Muslim man whose marriage was annulled by the Kerala High Court that described the case as an instance of ‘love jihad’. It also directed the probe agency to furnish the report to it after completing the investigation.
Read also: Supreme Court directs NIA probe into Muslim man’s nikah annulment case
It may be noted that the issue reached the apex court as Kerala-native Shafin Jahan challenged the annulment of his marriage by the Kerala High Court which ordered the state police to probe such cases.
The top court had said that it was entrusting the task to the NIA as a neutral agency to get a “whole picture” and ascertain whether the particular instance was limited to a “small pocket” or was there “something wider” to the issue.
Jahan, who had married a Hindu woman in last December, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying that it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.
It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State’s mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge. Ashokan K M, the father of the woman, had alleged that there was a “well-oiled systematic mechanism” for conversion and Islamic radicalization.