Woman testifies converted not under duress: Kerala HC rejects husband's plea

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected a habeas corpus petition filed by a CPI-M worker from Kannur who sought the production of his wife and the 13-year-old son, whom he alleged have been forcefully converted to Islam by the people linked to SDPI or PFI.

A division bench comprising justices K Vinod Chandran and Ziyad Rahman AA have found the petition filed by Gilbert PT of Iritty in Kannur not valid after the woman gave her statement before the court that she did convert to Islam on her own will and that her conversion was not under the influence of any type of coercion.

Gilbert stated in his petition that he is a Roman Catholic and the people linked with the SDPI or PFI got his wife and son converted to Islam at Tarbiyathul Islam Sabha at Kozhikode after abducting them from their home at Thenhipalam in Malappuram. He also expressed his apprehension about their being taken to ISIS, citing reports of new converts being recruited to ISIS from Kerala.

The court came to the conclusion that the petitioner's claims did not have a standing after hearing the woman alone and in the presence of police personnel and counsels during which she repeated she was not subjected to any kind of coercion for her conversion.

The woman he addressed as wife in the petition is not his real wife but the sister of his wife with whom he had been in a living together relationship. The woman told the court that the petitioner was not in a good term with her and that she was living a separate life from him. She also said it was she who leaned towards Islam and converted and her son has not been converted.

The police that probed the case also testified the woman's statement before the court that the petitioner and the woman were in a living together relationship and began living separately after distastes erupted between them.

The woman also wanted the court to make a situation where she and her son can live without any fear of harassment by outsiders and media. She said her son's education is being interrupted by the reports on her alleged abduction and detention.

The court directed the police to take immediate action if the woman is willing to make a complaint, observing that her situation is understandable, citing a newspaper column that stated the mother and the child are in the custody of extremists as soon as the bench issued a production warrant. The court observed as caution that such outbursts, without verifying the ground reality, only would result in polarization of communities, which the society cannot afford, the bench said.