During the course of the investigation, the Kerala police did not fid any offences that would warrant a probe by the NIA.
The Kerala Government has told the Supreme Court that its police had conducted a thorough probe in the case involving a Hindu woman who converted and married a Muslim man. In an affidavit, the Pinarayi Vijayan government rejected claims made by the central probe agency – the National Investigation Agency (NIA) — that the marriage was part of a "pattern" of religious conversions or radicalisation happening across the state.
The affidavit said that the state police had investigated all angles including the conversion of the woman to Islam, the religious institutions and persons involved, the persons she was in contact with, the family background and criminal antecedents of the man she is married to, Shafin Jahan, the financial arrangements and other details of their alleged marriage, and finally, if the case involved any attempts of trafficking Hadiya to outside the country.
"The Kerala Police had conducted a thorough investigation in an efficient manner. The Kerala Police is competent to conduct the investigation in such crimes and would have reported to the Central government if any scheduled offences were found to have been committed as per the provisions under the NIA Act," the affidavit said.
Questioning the sudden transfer of the case to the NIA, the affidavit added that Kerala police had done an "efficient" job until the intervention by the Supreme Court ordered NIA investigation. During the course of the investigation, the Kerala police did not fid any offences that would warrant a probe by the NIA.
"The investigation conducted so far by the Kerala Police has not revealed any incident relating to the commission of any scheduled offences to make a report to the Central Government under Section 6 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008," the affidavit filed by Subrata Biswas, the State's Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, said under oath to the Supreme Court.
In May, the Kerala High Court had nullified Jahan's marriage with 24-year-old Hadiya aka Akhila condemning it as "love jihad".
Jahan appealed in the top court against the HC order and sought his wife's presence since she was in her father's custody. Jahan claimed that Ashokan was holding Hadiya against her wishes since their marriage was "arbitrarily" annulled. However, Ashokan — the father, claimed that Sathya Sarani who propagated conversion to Islam, influenced his daughter.
On August 16, the SC bluntly observed that perhaps the state police would take sides and directed the NIA to take over the probe after suggestions that the case of a woman converting to Islam and marrying someone from her new faith is not an isolated incident. However, in order to get a fair and impartial investigation the SC had appointed the former SC judge to supervise the probe.
However, in a complete about-face, the top court recently questioned the High Court's jurisdiction in annulling the marriage of an adult, and keeping a 24-year-old in her parent's custody.
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