NIA to probe Shafin Jahan-Hadiya marriage case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the issue raised by a Muslim man whose marriage with Kottayam-native woman was annulled by the Kerala High Court that described it as a case of "love jihad".

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday said that retired Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran would monitor the probe by the NIA.

The court also said that it would call in Hadiya, earlier known as Akhila, to hear her version before delivering the verdict in the case.

The apex court had earlier directed the Kerala Police to render "all assistance" to the NIA in ascertaining whether there is any wider amplitude to the issue raised by complainant Shafin Jahan.

The NIA had moved the apex court seeking a direction that it be allowed to probe various aspects of the case.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jahan, opposed the NIA plea saying: "The NIA has made many U-turns in the past. How reliable is a probe by the NIA? The girl must be called in by the Supreme Court."

The shocking aspect of the case is that Hadiya had told the Kerala High Court that she consented to the marriage, and that there was no forceful conversion. But the court wasn't convinced. When her husband Jahan later moved the Supreme Court, even the top court expressed its scepticism.

Hadiya, earlier known as Akhila, was a homeopathy student in Kerala when she converted to Islam and changed her name. Her husband Shafin Jahan had met her with his family in August 2016 in response to her posting on a marriage website and they got married last December.

Hadiya's father, however, had said that she was a "helpless victim" trapped by a "well-oiled racket" which used "psychological measures" to indoctrinate people and convert them to Islam.

Hadiya's father had alleged that Jahan is a criminal and that his daughter was trapped by a network with connections to Popular Front of India and even the Islamic State.

Terming the case as "serious" and "sensitive", the apex court had asked the father of the woman to bring material on record in support of his claims on the alleged marriage of his daughter and that there was a "well-oiled systematic mechanism" for conversion and Islamic radicalisation.