No need for NIA probe into ‘love jihad’ case, Kerala tells SC

The top court had on August 16 directed the NIA to probe whether there was a wider pattern of alleged love jihad in the case in which the Hindu woman converted to Islam and later married Shafin Jahan, a Kerala Muslim man. The state government said that though it has complied with the courts direction to transfer the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the police has so far not found commission of any scheduled offences which statutorily warrant transfer of the case to the central agency. 

Jahan, who had married the woman last December and challenged the annulment of his marriage by the high court, has recently filed an interim plea seeking recall of the order asking the NIA to take over the investigation. He had claimed that the woman had converted several months before their marriage, which was finalised through a matrimonial site. The state government, in the additional affidavit, said that its police was competent to conduct the probe and would have reported to the Centre if any scheduled offence was found to have been committed. 

“The crime branch of Kerala Police had conducted the investigation in an efficient and sincere manner. The investigation conducted so far by Kerala Police has not revealed any incident relating to 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 said. 

Jahan had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country. Earlier, the apex court, on October 3, said it would examine the question whether the high court can exercise its power under writ jurisdiction to annul the marriage of Jahan with the Hindu woman who had converted to Islam.