Love Jihad Case: NIA Moves Supreme Court for Order to Probe Kerala Wedding

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today moved the Supreme Court seeking an order to probe various aspects of the plea of a Muslim man whose marriage with a Hindu woman was annulled by the Kerala High Court that described the case as an instance of 'love jihad'.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices A K Goel and D Y Chandrachud issued a notice to Kerala-native Shafin Jahan and state police on the fresh plea of NIA that it needed a specific order to investigate the entire spectrum of the case having an alleged element of 'love jihad' as well.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the probe agency, told the court that NIA will have to collect documents and other materials from the state police and would require a specific order for conducting a probe.

The bench considered the submission and fixed the NIA's plea for hearing at 2 PM on Thursday itself.

Earlier, the apex court had asked the NIA to file a report before it on August 16.

The court had on August 4 sought the response of the state government and the NIA on Jahan's plea challenging the high court order annulling his marriage.

The NIA has recently conducted probes into some cases of 'love jihad,' in which some women were allegedly being sent to Syria to join ISIS.

Terming the case as "serious" and "sensitive", the court had asked the father of the woman to bring material on record in support of his claims on the alleged marriage of his daughter and that there was a "well-oiled systematic mechanism" for conversion and Islamic radicalisation.

Jahan, who had married the woman in last December, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage saying that it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan.

It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

The high court, while declaring the marriage as "null and void", had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct a probe into such cases.