[24-year-old Hadiya (C) at the Supreme Court after hearing in New Delhi on Monday.(Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)]
Tume Dil Lagi Bhool Jani Padegi – Mohabbat Ki Rahoon Mein Aa Kar To Dekho…
Well these lines sums up Hadiya's matrimonial ordeals that has been dubbed as Love Jihad. She is doing Jihad to meet her husband and she doing jihad to protect her new faith.
Hadiya case refers to annulment of interreligious marriage by the Kerala High Court judgement that raised national eyebrows on the impartiality of the judiciary and seen akin to a ‘Khap panchayats’ of Haryana.
Challenging the High Court’s judgment by calling it ‘an insult to the entire woman of India’ the aggrieved husband went on appeal to the Supreme Court
The fundamental concerns that the High Court judgment threw in the public domain to debare were; can a court of law annual a legal marriage at the behest of third party. Second, what is the future of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in India, if court too denies protection?
The centre of the controversy is an adult Hindu girl Akhila who converted to Islam and became Hadiya. She married a Muslim boy through arranged marriage. This was objected by her parents and they called it her marriage a concern for national security.
The case has reached the Supreme Court and some points have emerged vividly. One, national security being compromised by forced conversions and sham marriages.
Second, the future of religious conversion in India, third, free will of an adult to choose a partner for matrimonial alliance and fourth future of inter- religious marriages in India.
The three member Supreme Court bench hearing this case equated this to ‘Blue whale’ web game that’s contagious and asked the National Intelligence Agency to probe the criminal angle of this case first.
The NIA submitted its report to the Supreme Court and gave a clean chit to the girl, saying there was no duress in the religious conversion of the girl and no breach of national security in this interfaith marriage.
The apex court then called the centerpiece of this case Hadiya and asked her several questions. After that it ordered her to be freed from her parent’s custody and sent her to the educational institution where she was studying earlier.
The actual fact is Akhila had converted to Islam long before her marriage and as Hadiya she started practicing her new religion while staying at her Hindu parents’ home.
When this was objected by her parents, Hadiya left her parental house and took shelter in an Islamic organization. She took up a job there and looked for matrimonial alliance. When she found one such match through a matrimonial website, she consented to have an arranged marriage.
The parent of the girl saw a conspiracy in this marriage and raised the national security concern to catch attention of the court. They moved Kerala High Court that took cognizance of the parent’s views and annulled this marriage.
After that the case came for hearing in the Supreme Court. Among all the issues involved in this case the apex court thought more urgent to probe the criminal angel of this case. And by linking this to “blue whale,” the web game, the honourable court made this case a national concern.
Now when the criminal conspiracy angel is almost closed, the curiosity is building, what the Supreme Court will further hear in this case?
The first curiosity is; can an adult marriage be annulled by a court of law at the behest of the third party’s petition i.e. parent’s?
The second is, can wishes of parents be entertained by the court against an adult child pertaining to matrimonial issues and if so what would be the legal protection to any such child.
The third is the freewill to choose one’s faith and the legality of the religious conversion in India.
The fourth is plea of the petitioner that the Kerala high court’s judgement “is an insult to the woman of India.”
The fifth is the High Court by overruling the constitutional guidelines has put a question mark on the future of inter-religious marriages in the country.
The sixth is; how long Hadiya is going to remain separated from her husband. Marriage as an intuition is meant to unite the couple but here it has separated them. It’s for almost 11 months now Hadiya is separated from her husband, how long more she has to wait?
The honourable court by delaying in disposing off the case, has exacerbated its curiosity.
In the end this case may turn out to be a hoax ‘blue whale’ and an overreaction to a simple love story.
As of now Hadiya has got freedom from her parent’s house but she is sent to a place without her husband. Her ordeal continues and she continues to do Jihad for her love and for her faith.
What appears it is through her life story Hadiya is telling to the world the real meaning of LOVE JIHAD….
Amidst all the adversity, Hadiya has stood by the conviction of her faith and has remained loyal to her husband. This is something admirable.
No one could deter her from her new faith and none can stop her from the love of her husband. She really deserves adulation for all such reasons.
A simple case of conversion and marriage has been blown out of proportion and raising the security concerns, it has highlighted many more of its shades.
The befitting tribute to it could be a biopic on Hadiya’s life story by our dream sellers the Bollywood that churns out such pot boiling scripts each Friday.
[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at; syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com.]
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