8.1.1 - The case made the headlines when the SC ordered the National Investigating Agency (NIA), India’s premier Counter-Terrorist Agency to look into the suspected indoctrination of a 24 year old Hindu woman, Hadiya who converted to Islam and married the petitioner, Shafin Jahan.
8.1.2 : Who is Hadiya?
Hadiya (formely Akhila), a 24 year old Homeopathic medical student from Vaikom (Kerala) left Hinduism to embrace Islam in January 2016. A few months later, she married Shafin Jahan, triggering allegations of forced conversion and love jihad.
Shafin Jahan, the husband of Hadiya appealed against the Kerala High Court judgment which had annulled his marriage as “sham”.
KM Ashokan, Hadiya’s father alleged before the Court (Kerala High Court & Supreme Court) that Hadiya was indoctrinated to convert to Islam and her marriage to Shafin Jahan is a part of larger agenda of “Love Jihad”.
8.3.1 - SC Judgment (on 9th April, 2018) – The 3 Judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra restored Hadiya’s right to marry Shafin Jahan and embrace Islam by over-ruling the Kerala High Court judgment on three counts:
8.4.1 - Six months after the judgment, the NIA closed its probe into inter-faith marriages in Kerala as it couldn’t find any evidence of force or coercion. At the insistence of the SC, the NIA had picked 11 cases of inter-faith marriages in Kerala for examination into so called cases of “love jihad”
8.4.2 - There were spurts in love-jihad claims all across the country after the NIA probe was launched by the SC.:
Love Jihad Pamphlet by Sree Ram Sena, a Hindu Fringe Outfit
8.5.1 – Suhrith Parthasarthy in an opinion piece, “The Hadiya Caution” argues that though Hadiya’s right to marry and religious choice was upheld by the Court, the judgment conceals the Supreme Court’s support for the “Love-Jihad” narrative.
8.5.2 – Indira Jaising piece in Scroll, “Hadiya’s Ordeal” suggests if it was a man in Hadiya’s place, the court would have responded differently.
8.5.3 – J. Devika in The Caravan highlights the growing alienation of Muslim community in Kerala.
8.5.4 – Rahul Bhatia in the New Yorker, “The Year of Love Jihad in India” writes that the Court legitimized the myth of ‘Love Jihad’ by even entertaining the case.
8.5.5 –Annie Gowen writes about the ‘Love-Jihad’ Hit List made public by a Hindu fringe group