The Supreme Court on Tuesday has questioned the order of the Kerala High Court that annulled the marriage of a Hindu woman in the state to a Muslim man.
While the HC had called the marriage 'love jihad' and the woman was sent to stay with her parents, the SC said that a father could not have control over his adult daughter.
Hindustan Times quoted the Supreme Court as saying, "A father can't have control over 24-year-old girl. It might send the girl to a custodian or an organisation."
Live Law reported that senior lawyer Dushyant Dave also made scathing arguments agains the NIA proble.
"This investigation shakes the foundation of this multi-religious country. Two high functionaries of BJP have married members of minority community. Will Your Lordships order NIA probe into it? This order sends terrible signals all over the world," Dave said.
Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya had converted to Islam before her marriage to Shafin Jahan. Hadiya's marriage was annulled after a petition by her parents.
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the newspaper reported, also questioned the earlier apex court order for an NIA probe into the matter.
This observation by the court is probably a breather for Hadiya who is said to be held forcibly by her parents in their home in Kottayam.
Jahan had moved the SC in July saying that the HC order was an insult to the independence of women in India.
Love jihad is a term used by radical Hindu outfits that claim that it is a conspiracy for Muslims to convert Hindu women and forcing them to take up Islam.
In his petition, Jahan had said that his wife had converted two years before their marriage, so there was no question of force.
Her conversion to Islam was accepted because Hadiya was an adult when she converted. Her parents have however claimed that she had been forced to convert to Islam, an allegation that Hadiya had herself denied.