Kerala’s alleged conversion case: Women’s commission will approach SC to seek access to Hadiya
The high court had annulled her marriage to a Muslim man, and ordered that she be placed under her parents’ custody.
The Kerala State Women’s Commission on Sunday decided to approach the Supreme Court, seeking permission to visit 25-year-old Hadiya, whose marriage to a Muslim man was annulled by the Kerala High Court after her parents alleged she had been forced to convert to Islam, reported Manorama Online.
The high court had ordered Hadiya, known as Akhila before conversion, to be placed under her parents’ protective custody. The commission decided to approach the top court after several activists urged it to intervene in the case claiming that Hadiya’s human rights were being violated, The News Minute reported.
Hadiya has denied that she was forced to convert. Her husband, Shafin Jahan, has already moved the top court against the Kerala High Court order annulling the marriage. He has claimed that Hadiya converted of her own volition, and the ruling was an “insult to the independence of women in India”.
On August 16, the Supreme Court had ordered the National Investigation Agency to look into the case of the woman’s alleged conversion.