Recall order for NIA probe into conversion, marriage: plea in SC

NEW DELHI, 09/04/2013: Supreme Court of India in New Delhi on April 10, 2013. Photo: S. Subramanium

Exactly a month after the Supreme Court handed over the investigation into the alleged conversion and subsequent marriage of a Hindu girl to a Muslim man in Kerala, an application was filed on Saturday requesting the apex court to stop the NIA probe in the light of fresh evidence that have emerged post its August 16 order that the girl converted of her own free will and she is being confined and “tortured” by her parents.

Shafin Jahan, the man in question, has sought a recall of the apex court order and a direction to the Director General of Police, (Law and Order), Trivandrum, Kerala, to produce the girl before the Supreme Court.

His application, through advocate Haris Beeran, refers to an aired video shot by activist Rahul Easwar, featuring the girl objecting to her “house arrest”.

‘Rights violated’

The application claimed that the acting president of the Kerala Human Rights Commission, P. Mohandas, had gone on to make a statement that the girl “is undergoing immense human rights violation at her house”. The application quotes the chairperson of Kerala Women’s Commission, M.C. Josephine, who too indicates that there is “grave human rights violation in the case of the detenue (the girl) and that the commission is willing to act on a complaint”.

The application points out that the retired Supreme Court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran, who the Supreme Court had appointed to oversee the NIA investigation, had refused the assignment. It said that in the light of Justice Raveendran’s refusal, the NIA probe should be stopped as it would not be a fair one.

It said that keeping the girl in custody against her will, where she is not free to practise the religion she has chosen of her own free will, is a clear violation of her fundamental rights.

It said that an NIA probe may not be required. “It is also clear that Respondent No.1 (the girl’s father) is blatantly infringing upon the right of the detenue to live a dignified life with all the liberty and freedom of a consenting adult of a sound mind”.

On August 16, a Bench led by then Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar had agreed with the NIA’s submission that the alleged conversion of the girl and her marriage to Mr. Jahan was not an “isolated incident” and there was a “pattern” emerging in the southern state.

The Supreme Court had ordered the NIA to start its investigation even as the Kerala Police readily obliged to bow out of the probe.

The girl is in her father’s custody after the Kerala High Court annulled their marriage on May 24.

The father said she was a helpless victim trapped by a “well-oiled” racket which uses “psychological measures” to indoctrinate people and convert them to Islam. Advocate Madhavi Divan, who represents him, had submitted that “radicalisation is rampant in Kerala”.