Delhi-based students’ collective, Pinjra Tod has filed a plea to the Chief Justice of India to free Hadiya - the woman in the infamous Kerala love jihad case. The collective is running a protest called ‘Free Hadiya’ as the Kerala High Court passed a judgment to annul her love marriage with a Muslim man.
"Kerala High Court’s absolute denial of a voice to Hadiya is a matter of grave concern. From the court forcing her to live in a women's hostel under surveillance to annulment of a consensual marriage on grounds of coercion, despite an adult woman making a clear statement of her consent," the appeal reads, One India reported.
"The court only sees her as indoctrinated and influenced. Hadiya is not to left free to decide what she wants in life," the appeal says.
The group calls this decision of the Kerala HC –‘Infantilization of women’. Nivedita Menon of Pinjra Tod says that the decision undermines equal citizenship for women. The order violates women’s fundamental and constitutional rights in the country.
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The group is petitioning to CJI to free Hadiya from forced house arrest. The group also showed distress over the fact that the court kept addressing to Hadiya as ‘Akhila’. A name she surrendered when she embraced Islam.
"The court only sees her as indoctrinated and influenced. Hadiya is not to left free to decide what she wants in life," the appeal says.
The group is staging a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today at 2pm. Further, the protest will be joined by a few other organisations like All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA), Bebaak Collective, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), etc.
Pinjra Tod filed the appeal at the same time National Investigation Agency spotted a pattern in Kerala’s religious conversions. It also says that Hadiya is not the only woman suffering from such atrocity for going against her religion for love.
Picture credit- The News Minute
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