Kerala govt supporting extremists in Hadiya's case: Ashokan

K M Ashokan, father of Hadiya who is at the centre of an alleged love jihad case, today accused the Left-led Kerala government of supporting extremists in the matter.
Hadiya had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, much against her parents' wish.
"There is nothing more to say about their (state government) stand on this issue. People are very well aware of it," Ashokan told Malayalam news channels.
"The state government is always having a mentality to support the extremists. That was visible from the very beginning in this case," he said.
He alleged that even the Kerala Women's Commission took a stand against him and his family in the matter.

Asokan, however, did not react to the Supreme Court's directive to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) today that it could continue with its probe into the alleged love jihad aspect, but cannot investigate the marital status of the man and the woman.

The father had alleged that his daughter Akhila's marriage to a Muslim man was a case of "forced conversion". The girl had taken the name Hadiya after converting to Islam.
In May, the Kerala High Court had annulled Hadiya's marriage and ordered her to return to live with her parents in Kottayam district of Kerala.
In an interim order on a petition by her husband Shafin Jahan challenging the verdict, the Supreme Court on November 27 set her free from the custody of her parents and directed her to continue her studies at the Salem college, appointing its dean as her guardian.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra today said, "You (NIA) can investigate it (the alleged love jihad case) but you cannot investigate about their marital status".
The top court also said that Hadiya, alleged to be a victim of love jihad, had appeared before it and specifically said that she married Jahan on her own.
The bench also observed that it would examine whether the Kerala High Court was correct in annulling the marriage while hearing a habeas corpus petition.