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Any Statement From Hadiya Can't Be Accepted, She's Indoctrinated, Her Father's Lawyer Says Ahead Of SC Hearing

She'd be in Syria or Afghanistan, (had she not been forced to stay at her father's home), he added.
Police officers guard inside the premises of KM Ashokan, father of 24-year-old Akhila, who converted to Islam in 2016 and took a new name, Hadiya, at Vaikom in the Kottayam district of Kerala, November 23, 2017.
Sivaram V / Reuters
Police officers guard inside the premises of KM Ashokan, father of 24-year-old Akhila, who converted to Islam in 2016 and took a new name, Hadiya, at Vaikom in the Kottayam district of Kerala, November 23, 2017.

An adult Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam and is fighting her parents for the right to live with her Muslim husband, "does not have an independent mind and is heavily indoctrinated", her father's lawyer said on Sunday.

Hadiya on Saturday told the waiting media in Kochi airport that she wanted to live with her husband Shafin Jahan and was fighting for her right as a consenting adult to do so. Her case will come up before the Supreme Court tomorrow.

As she was brought to Kochi airport amidst tight security, the 24-year-old woman called out loudly to mediapersons saying she wanted justice. She was accompanied by three women police officials and two male policemen besides her parents.

In Delhi she is putting up at the Kerala House, where four rooms have been booked for the party from Kerala.

On Sunday, A Raghunath, her father's lawyer, told NDTV: "Any statement coming from such a mind (Hadiya's) cannot be accepted. She does not have an independent mind at all. She is heavily indoctrinated. Her response can be taken only after she comes out of the mental kidnapping that she has gone through."

She is, in all sense, in confinement in her father's home. Raghunath also told the channel that: "If the high court had not passed this order, you would have found her in Syria or in Afghanistan."

Police officers speak on their mobile phones as they stand on the porch of the house of K M Ashokan, father of 24-year-old Akhila (not pictured), who converted to Islam in 2016 and took a new name, Hadiya, at Vaikom in the Kottayam district of Kerala.
Sivaram V / Reuters
Police officers speak on their mobile phones as they stand on the porch of the house of K M Ashokan, father of 24-year-old Akhila (not pictured), who converted to Islam in 2016 and took a new name, Hadiya, at Vaikom in the Kottayam district of Kerala.

The apex court on October 30 had directed Hadiya's father, KM Asokan to present her in the court on 27 November to ascertain her views on her marriage to Jahan.

On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the application for in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court on 27 November would be taken up on that day itself after a lawyer mentioned Asokan's application for an early hearing.

The court in the last hearing had said that before examining the latter issue, it would like to ascertain if Hadiya had voluntarily converted to Islam and her views on her marriage.

The court is hearing a plea by Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala. On November 18, an NIA team arrived at her home for the second time and took statements from her and her parents to present their case before the court.

(With inputs from IANS)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.