'Love jihad' case gets more controversial
Even as retired Supreme Court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran turned down the request to oversee the investigation by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Hadiya case–a case involving conversion, marriage, annulment of marriage and ensuing home arrest of a Hindu girl–the issue continues to stir controversies. The latest one was when a group of women activists went to meet Hadiya at her home in Kottayam district.
According to their Facebook post, the girl's parents did not allow the activists to meet Hadiya. They also alleged that they heard the 25-year-old cry out for help from a window. "We went with flowers, books and chocolates to meet Hadiya and her family. Her parents didn't allow us to meet her, but we saw Hadiya cry out from the window...This is human rights violation," said a Facebook post.
Hadiya is a trained homeopath who was born Akhila Ashokan and converted to Islam six years ago. Her marriage to Shafin Jahan, 27, is being investigated by the NIA to explore whether vulnerable young Hindu women are being recruited by terror organisations as part of what is called "love jihad" by right-wing organisations who allege an Islamist conspiracy to convert Hindu women by having Muslim men court and marry them.
Hadiya's marriage was annulled by the Kerala High Court based on her father Ashokan KM's claim that Shafin Jahan has links to terror-outfit ISIS and that he targeted Hadiya as part of "love jihad." At least 20 young people who have gone missing in Kerala are believed to have joined the ISIS in Syria and Afghanistan.
“It is not a case of plain human rights violation as these human rights activists would want all to believe. There is definitely more to it,'' said a police officer who was once part of the inquiry.
The case had created controversy last week too as a right-leaning public figure Rahul Eeshwar was allowed to visit her house. He had also posted a video where Hadiya was seen in a Muslim outfit. She was heard asking her mother: “Is this what my life is going to be?”, to which her mother was seen wailing: "I want my daughter back".
Hadiya's husband filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court order annulling their marriage. Earlier this month, the top court said the NIA, the country's top counter terror agency, will investigate the marriage and the probe will be supervised by a former judge.
Vault B continues to remain unopen
The amicus curiae for Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Gopal Subramaniam, is learnt to have failed to make any headway regarding the issue of opening vault B of the temple as the erstwhile Travancore royal family stuck to its position against opening the vault.
They had been objecting to the opening of Vault B, the only underground chamber of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple that has not been examined officially, stating that it is against the customs but had said they would go by the decision of the temple tantri.
When the royals had submitted their reservation to the apex court on July 4, the court had directed the amicus curiae to report back after thrashing out a consensus. The royal family argues that the ‘devaprashnam’ in 2011 had quite unambiguously stated that the chamber should not be opened. It was also said the chamber was deeply connected to the ‘sreekovil’. Certain machinery, levers and pulleys, connected to the functioning of the temple, were right under the B vault, it was argued.
According to them, whoever had entered, had entered only the antechamber and not the actual chamber.
The vault B, it seems, is likely to remain a secret for some more time.
Dileep to spend his Onam in jail
The star couple—Dileep and Kavya Madhavan—would have been all over most of the TV channels as they celebrate their first Onam post-wedding together if the actor molestation case had not happened. But as unluck would have It, Dileep has been denied bail yet again and Kavya's name has been drawn directly into the controversy.
Pulsar Suni, who was arrested in connection with the abduction and sexual abuse of an actor, on Wednesday alleged that Kavya was also involved in the case. The driver, Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, had earlier spoken about the involvement of a “madam” in the case.
When Sunil was about to be produced in a court in Kochi in connection with another alleged abduction bid reported in 2012, reporters from TV channels asked him about the involvement of the “madam”. “Kavya is my madam. I had already stated Kavya’s name,” he told reporters.
Dileep had married Kavya last year after divorcing his first wife Manju Warrier. The police probe had found that Dileep was upset with the actor who was attacked as he believed that she was instrumental in disclosing his affair with Kavya to his ex-wife.
While rejecting the bail application of Dileep in the High Court, the prosecution had stated that Sunil, who is the first accused in the case, had worked as a driver for Kavya as well. A police probe revealed that Sunil had gone to Kavya’s boutique, Lakshya, after the assault on the actor.
The case is getting murkier day by day.
