Kerala woman Hadiya alias Akhila Asokan, whose conversion to Islam and marriage to Shafin Jahan had triggered a national controversy, said on Wednesday that she needed total freedom and wanted to meet her husband, the person whom she “loves most.”
Ms. Hadiya spoke to her husband on the mobile phone of G. Kannan, principal of Sivaraj Homoeopathic Medical College and Research Institute, in his room.
She had arrived in Salem on Tuesday evening escorted by the Kerala police on the directions of the Supreme Court, which permitted her to pursue her Bachelor’s in Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery course at the college where she had enrolled some years ago and dropped out in 2015 following her marriage.
‘Fundamental rights’
Speaking to journalists on the college premises situated about 10 km from Salem city, Ms. Hadiya said she was asking only for her fundamental rights.
She had made a plea to the court for freedom. “Till now, I have not got the freedom I wanted,” she said.
Ms. Hadiya, who had submitted a letter to Mr. Kannan on Tuesday seeking permission for continuing her one year mandatory internship, claimed she learnt that the college did not have clarity on the Supreme Court order .
Due to this, she would have to wait for a few more days for the college to take a final decision on her request letter.
She was at the college on Wednesday to complete the formalities for submitting an application to the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, to which the college was affiliated, for ‘condonation of the break of studies period’ to enable her to resume the internship.
Ms. Hadiya had said earlier in the day that she was not in possession of any phone and had not contacted any person whom she wanted to speak to.
Bid to re-convert her
Referring to her separation from her husband and confinement in her parents’ house for the past many months, she said that she was forced to put up with people whom she hated. She alleged that her parents and relatives were making attempts to re-convert her.
She said that her parents issued statements saying that she was not mentally stable. There were a lot of restrictions in the house, where she was kept in confinement. Her parents did not even provide a television in her room, due to which she could not keep abreast of the happenings taking place outside. After talking to her husband, Ms. Hadiya looked very relaxed. She confirmed that she was very happy and totally relaxed. “I was under tremendous pressure for many months and am now slowly returning back to normalcy,” she said.
Dr. Kannan said that anyone who wanted to meet Ms. Hadiya could do so only with his consent and in his presence.
