Supreme Court upholds Hadiya’s marriage, says no love jihad

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the marriage of Hadiya, a 26-year-old Kerala woman who converted to Islam, to Shafin Jahan, overturning a high court order that annulled the marriage as sham. Pronouncing the landmark decision that upholds a woman's right to choose her partner, the court said, “Hadiya is at liberty to pursue her life and NIA will carry on investigation as per law.” The order came on a petition by Jahan, who had challenged the Kerala high court's order that not only invalidated the marriage but also gave Hadiya's custody to her parents. “In the facts and circumstances of the case, the high court could not have annulled the marriage, “ the top court said. Hadiya's father Ashokan KM had alleged his daughter was converted to Islam forcibly and she wanted to go to Syria, a charge he repeated in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on March 6.