Kerala High Court has rejected the Habeas Corpus of Dr. Hadiya’s father K M Asoka, who had alleged that he was unable to contact or find out the whereabouts of his daughter.
Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice C. Pratheep Kumar were part of the division bench which stated that the Habeas Corpus Petition was not acceptable as Dr Hadiya is not under any illegal detention. The bench further asserted that she has her right to live a free life.
The court refused to entertain Asokan’s plea after considering Hadiya’s statement which clarified that she got divorced and married again and was now living in Trivandrum. In support of her statement, she submitted her call records to show that she was in contact with her parents. She has also presented her address and contact details before the Court.
The plea of her father was represented by Advocates C.Rajendran, B.K.Gopalakrishnan and R.S.Sreevidya.
Dr. Akhila converted to Islam in 2017, following which she assumed the name Hadiya. Her father filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court then, alleging that she was forcefully converted. The High Court initially nullified the marrage of Hadiya and Shafin Jahan, which took place during the pendency of the petition, by invoking the parens patriae doctrine.
Later in 2018, the Supreme Court upheld “the personal autonomy of a woman to choose her life partner”, and revoked the Kerala High Court order that annulled Hadiya’s marriage with Shafin Jahan. The court emphasised Hadiya’s submission before the Court that she had converted and married on her own free will.
‘My father is a liar’
Recently Dr Hadiya married another Muslim man after ending marriage with first wife through divorce. Like in the first marriage, her father K M Ashokan approached the High Court of Kerala with a habeas corpus petition.
Dr Hadiya (formerly Akhila Ashoka) has lashed out at her father accusing him of "playing the dirty games of the RSS".
"I was born in December 1991. Today, I am a 32-year-old woman. Tell me how an adult woman should lead her life?" she said.
"Should I give up my life for the RSS? Or should I lead the rest of my life in a room in my father's house? I am asking because I don't know what society expects of me," she said.
"Don't I have the right to live a life of my choice? If I am doing something illegal, lock me up in jail. I don't have any problem," she said.
"But what dirty games the RSS and the RSS-affiliated media are playing! And my parents are playing along," she said.
"Those who are talking of parents' feelings should understand one thing, I am being tortured by parents for a long time," she said.
Dr Hadiya said her father came to her clinic one year ago. "That day, I was out shopping. Won't I have my own needs, requirements, and engagements?" she said.
Her father had said that he approached the High Court after not finding her in the clinic on December 3, and because she went incommunicado. "Whatever he has said is a lie. My father and I were always in contact over the phone. I stopped attending his and my mother's phone calls after he played this dirty game. Two days ago, I attended my mother's call and told her that I was not interested in speaking with her because I lost trust in them," she said.
On her remarriage, she said it need not be a topic of public discussion. "Our Constitution allows us to get divorced and remarry. It normally happens in society. I want to ask why everybody gets irritated when I do it. I want to ask the same of my parents?" she said.
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