Can't examine woman's choice of partner unless she complains: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that a court cannot examine whether an adult woman’s marriage was valid or invalid, whether she was brainwashed into it or not, unless she complained.

The top court indicated that it would restrict its adjudication in the Hadiya case to whether the Kerala High Court could have annulled her marriage to Shafin Jahan, a PFI activist, in a habeas corpus petition. The case has been touted as an example of love jihad from the state.

Her father Ashok Kumar had first moved the High Court against her illegal confinement. During pendency of the case, the marriage was solemnised and presented the court as a fait accompli, prompting the court to annul it.


Shafin Jahan moved the top court against the decision. In its first reaction to his plea, the top court led by former CJI J.S. Khehar prima facie agreed with the father’s plea for a NIA enquiry.

His lawyer Madhvi Divan had argued that there was a pattern to the brainwashing and marriage to PFI activists in the state. The NIA had subsequently conducted a probe into the episode.