Kerala Love Jihad case: SC adjourns hearing till Mar 8

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which was to hear the Kerala 'Love Jihad' case on Thursday, adjourned the matter for further hearing till March 8.

However, the top court had on Wednesday categorically refused to adjourn Thursday's hearing.

Earlier Hadiya's father had requested the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra to defer the hearing scheduled to be held on February 22, but it was not allowed by the court.

In November last year, Shafin Jahan, husband of Hadiya, had filed a complaint with the police, alleging that attempts are being made to reconvert his wife against her wishes, ahead of her appearance in the Supreme Court.

Shafin alleged that his wife was counseled by a religious teacher for over three hours, to convince her to change her religion back to Hinduism.

24-year-old Hadiya had converted to Islam after her marriage to Shafin Jahan.

Hadiya is currently with her parents, who have alleged that her marriage to a Shafin is a case of so-called 'love jihad'.

The case is under the consideration by the top court, which had ordered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to look into the case.

The NIA had filed a sealed report in the Supreme Court in connection with the case.

In September last year, Jahan had filed a plea in the court to call off the NIA probe, alleging the investigation agency of being unfair.

Hadiya has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, stating that she is a Muslim and wants to remain the same and also stated that she wants to remain as the wife of Safi Jahan.

On January 23, 2018, the three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said, "Marriage has to be separate from criminal activity, otherwise we will be creating a bad precedent in law". The bench further added that "We cannot go into the marriage, whether the person she is married to is a good person or a bad person. The NIA can investigate all other aspects, except her marriage."

On November 27, last year, the Supreme Court had directed that Hadiya be taken to Shivaraj, Homeopathy College at Salem, Tamil Nadu, where she is a student to allow her to complete her 11-month course.

The apex court directed the college to make arrangements for her hostel facilities and appointed the Dean of the university as her local guardian.