Hadiya's husband Shafin was in touch with ISIS supporters, says NIA

Shafin Jahan, the husband of Hadiya, was allegedly in touch with two key charge-sheeted accused in ISIS (Islamic State) Omar-al-Hindi case, an NIA probe has found.

During the months preceding his marriage to Hadiya, Shafin  allegedly communicated with Manseed and P Safvan via a closed Facebook group comprising activists of Popular Front of India (PFI)'s political arm SDPI as well as a popular messaging application.Both Manseed and Shafin were not only members of the Facebook group 'SDPI Keralam' but also part of its administrative panel, according to a report in TOI.

Omar-al-Hindi case

Omar-al-Hindi case is related to criminal conspiracy by members of an Islamic State-inspired group to target high court judges, senior police officers and political leaders. The group had planned to target prominent public places in South India.

Here's what NIA probe revealed

* Manseed, Shafin Jahan's friend Muneer brought Hadiya (Akhila Asokan) and him together.

* Shafin was in contact with Islamic State-inspired groups

* Shafin communicated with Omar-al-Hindi case accused via closed Facebook group

Hadiya, Shafin Jahan's side of the story

Hadiya and Shafin Jahan got married in December 2016 through a matrimonial website 'waytonikah.com'. 

The Kerala High Court had in May this year annulled their's marriage. The Supreme Court is currently hearing Shafin Jahan's appeal against the annulment.

May 2017: Kerala High Court Annuls Hadiya's Marriage

The case came into the limelight after Hadiya's father KM Ashokan contested in Kerala High Court and alleged that Shafin Jahan, whom Hadiya married last year, was trying to recruit her for terror and take her to Syria. On his petition, the marriage was cancelled by the Kerala High Court. Since then, Hadiya had been living at her father's home in Kerala's Kottayam and has been refrained from contacting outsiders without her father's approval.

Shafin appealed against the annulment of their marriage and said it was not 'love jihad' case.

August 2017: Supreme Court orders NIA probe

After asking the Kerala government to produce all the documents related to the Hadiya case, the Supreme Court, on August 16, ordered a probe by the National Investigation Agency.

October 30, 2017: Bring Hadiya here: Supreme Court to father

On October 30, the Supreme Court said that Hadiya's case will be heard on November 27. The apex court had said that since Hadiya was 24 years old, her consent as an adult was "prime" and her version of how and why she married a Muslim man will be heard.

November 24, 2017: 'Married at free will'

Before taking a flight to Delhi from Kochi, Hadiya said that she was not forcefully converted or married to Shafin Jahan. "I married him out of my own will and I want to live with my husband," she said.

November 29, 2017: Hadiya speaks to husband over phone

The dean said: "She appeared to be relieved from depression after talking to him (husband). There is no restriction imposed on her to talk or to meet anybody." The long pending desire of Hadiya was fulfilled on Sunday when she spoke to her husband over a mobile phone.

A day after she arrived in the city to continue studies at the Sivaraj Homeopathy medical college as directed by the Supreme Court, she spoke to her husband using the phone of the College Dean.

"Hadiya talked to Jahan (her husband) for a while from my mobile phone, after I, as local guardian, asked her whether she was interested in talking or meeting anybody, college dean G Kannan told reporters.

The dean said: "She appeared to be relieved from depression after talking to him (husband). There is no restriction imposed on her to talk or to meet anybody."

Activists' demand 

Women's rights activists comprising academicians, authors, women's collectives and women's right advocates, have urged  Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as well as the State Commission for Women to extend state protection to Hadiya. The activists, including publisher Urvashi Butalia, DU professor Nandini Sundar, JNU professors Ayesha Kidwai and Nivedita Menon, and Suneeta Dhar among others, have sought that "Hadiya be brought under the protection of the state, perhaps in a shelter in consultation with her".

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has accused the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of being out on a "fishing expedition" in Kerala and interrogating couples in inter-caste or inter-community marriages.

The party's politburo member said instead of celebrating inter-caste and inter-community marriages as "symbols of Indias open and liberal approach", there was a campaign against them.

"The NIA is on a fishing expedition having already interrogated 89 such couples in Kerala," Karat said in the latest issue of party organ 'People's Democracy', while referring to the Hadiya case.