Probe criminal dimension, not Hadiya’s marriage: SC to NIA

New Delhi, Jan 23:  The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the NIA to continue its probe into any criminality in the marriage of Hadiya, a Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, with Shafin Jahan but not intrude into their marriage.

Observing that probe into the criminal aspect has to be segregated from the marriage, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said “…otherwise we will be creating a bad precedent in law”.

“We can’t go into the marriage. Whether the person she is married to is good human being or a bad human” — the bench observed, noting that Hadiya is 24 years old and has made an independent decision and choice to marry.

Making it clear that the National Investigation Agency has to stay away from the marriage of Hadiya with Shafin Jahan, the court observed that the agency could probe into “all other aspects except her marriage”.

Hadiya was set-free and allowed to pursue her studies in the last hearing of the matter as she had told the court that she wanted to pursue her internship in the Sivaraj Homoeopathic College in Salem in Tamil Nadu.

The court will hold the next hearing on February 22 when it will examine the validity of the Kerala High Court’s order annulling her marriage with Shafin Jahan.

IANS