A day after the Supreme Court allowed Hadiya, the woman from Kerala who has been in the eye of a storm ever since she converted to Islam, to go to Tamil Nadu for studies, the 25-year-old left for Salem on Tuesday afternoon.
The Court granted Hadiya’s desire to complete her homeopathy course at Salem after it heard her in an open court on Monday.
Hadiya has been accompanied by security officers on her journey from Delhi to Salem. Though she was restricted by security officers from speaking to the media, at the airport she repeated her stand that she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jahan.
Accommodated at the Kerala House in Delhi, the arrangements for her journey were also monitored by the Kerala House protocol officer.
Meanwhile Hadiya’s parents Asokan and Ponnamma, who had accompanied Hadiya to Delhi, left for Kerala around the same time. Her mother told the media that Hadiya was mentally not well.
Asokan, however, said the legal course of the case so far has been in his favour and that the judgment didn’t imply that everyone can meet her daughter.
Monday was the most crucial day of the sensational case which had kicked off heated debates on individual freedom, conversion and related topics.
Hadiya told the court that she wanted to continue her studies, the expenses of which can be borne by Shafin Jahan.
On Saturday while leaving for Delhi, Hadiya shouted on seeing the media at the Cochin International Airport that she had not been forcefully converted nor was her marriage conducted by force, and that she wanted to go with Shafin Jahan. She screamed saying she wanted justice.
It was the first time since May that Hadiya had stepped out her home and spoken out. Many were eagerly waiting to hear from her as it has been alleged that her conversion from Hinduism to Islam was an organised effort and that her marriage to Shafin Jahan was love jihad.
Hailing from Vaikom in Kerala, the woman has been the centre of attention since May after the Kerala High Court put her in the custody of her parents.
The High Court had also annulled her marriage with Shafin Jahan. The Supreme Court will pronounce a verdict about the marriage in January.
On 16 and 17 Nov, the National Investigation Agency took statements from Hadiya. There were allegations that Hadiya had been subjected to physical assault and mental harassment at her parents’ home; and a video was published in which she says that she feared for her life.
The Supreme Court, after Shafin filed a special leave petition, ordered the NIA to probe into the allegation that the conversion was an organised effort. On October 30, the Supreme Court directed that Hadiya should be heard in an open court after which she was presented before the court on Monday.