SC to hear plea to hold in-camera hearing for Hadiya on Monday only

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will hear on Monday (November 27) the plea by Asokan, the father of Hadiya, a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, for an in-camera hearing when she appears before the court in pursuance to its directions.

The top court by its October 30 order had directed Hadiya's father to to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Muslim man, Shafin 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 November 27 would be taken up on that day itself after a lawyer mentioned Asokan's application for an early hearing.

The court in the last bearing had said that before examining the later issue, it would like to ascertain if she had voluntarily converted to Islam and to her marriage.

"We will have the lady before us and ask her if she has consented voluntarily" to conversion and marriage, the bench had said in the last hearing.

Telling the court in the last hearing that Hadiya has been indoctrinated, senior counsel Shyam Divan, who appeared for Asokan, had told the court that Hadiya's every statement should not be taken as "absolute" for this reason.

The court is hearing a plea by Shafin 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 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.