SC takes up plea in Hadiya-like case

Chhattisgarh man separated from wife

August 19, 2018 09:57 pm | Updated 09:57 pm IST - NEW DELHI

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The Supreme Court has decided to examine the plea of a man, who converted to Hinduism from Islam to marry,to be re-united with his 23-year-old wife.

Thirty-three-year-old Ibrahim Siddhiqui aka Aryan Arya has challenged a Chhattisgarh High Court order to separate him from his wife, Anjali Jain, and send her back to either her parents or lodge her in a hostel. Ms. Jain is now in a hostel, according to Mr. Arya.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud decided to speak to Ms. Jain to know what she wants. Since the couple hails from Dhamtari district in Chhattisgarh, the Bench has directed the local Superintendent of Police to produce Ms. Jain before it on August 27.

‘Emotional blackmail’

Mr. Arya, who converted to Hinduism two days before his wedding with Ms. Jain, said the High Court was swayed by the emotional scenes inside the courtroom when Ms. Jain’s tearful mother slapped her and threatened to die by suicide.

Mr. Arya, represented by advocates Nikhil Nayyar and Ambuj Agrawal, contended that the High Court order was a violation of the apex court’s judgment in the Hadiya case. The apex court had set aside a Kerala High Court decision to send a 24-year-old Hindu woman — who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man — back to her parents.

The Supreme Court had held in the Hadiya case that “marriage and plurality is the fundamental core of our culture. Plurality in India should be zealously guarded”. The court had held that neither the State nor parents can “encroach into marriage” between two adults.

Mr. Arya argued that Ms. Jain married him of her own free will. She was not allowed to be with him despite expressing her “independent choice” to do so in open court on July 30, 2018.

“The High Court despite recording that the detenue (Ms. Jain) was a major of 23 years of age and by her own admission was married to the petitioner (Arya), limits her freedom to either live with her parents or be accommodated in a hostel… detenue Anjali repeatedly stated in open Court at the time of the hearing July 30, 2018 that she wished to live with the petitioner and that she be allowed to go with him, but the High Court failed to record the same,” the petition in the apex court said.

Alleging “serious threat to his and his wife’s life”, Mr. Arya said he wanted Ms. Jain to be produced before the Supreme Court, where he said “she would state and express freely that she wishes to live with the petitioner, her husband”.

“The current arrangement of stay of the detenue at a hostel is against her independent choice and wish, and amounts to deprivation of her liberty, which is guaranteed to her under Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution,” the petition said.

The petition said the couple were in a relationship for the past two-three years. On February 23 this year, the petitioner converted from Islam to Hinduism at Raipur and adopted the name Aryan Arya.

On February 25, post his conversion to Hindu religion, the petitioner and Ms. Jain got married at the Arya Samaj Temple at Raipur as per Hindu rites and traditions, the petition said.

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