Ahead of the love jehad hearing in Supreme Court on November 27, the father of the girl, who converted from Hindu faith to Islam, moved an application on Tuesday requesting the judges to meet his daughter "in-camera".
On October 30, the court had said it would speak to the girl Akhila, alias Hadiya, in open court. The father said such a request was made considering safety concerns of himself and the girl as the case involved radical/extremist elements.
Asokan KM, the father of the girl in question, referred to recent news reports to substantiate the involvement of radical groups in forcibly converting Hindu girls and later marrying them off to Muslim men.
In the present case, acting on the father's petition, the Kerala High Court had annulled the marriage of Hadiya with Shafin Jahan and ordered the custody of the girl to the father. It was against this order that the husband Shafin Jahan approached the apex court.
The father stated in his application that since the matter "involves sensitive issues involving the security and physical safety of the parties and communally sensitive issues in the backdrop of the involvement of radical/extremist elements, it is genuinely believed that in-camera interaction is necessary in the interest of the safety and privacy of father and his family."
Giving reference to the apex court's judgment declaring right to privacy as a fundamental right, the application further stated, "Given the extent of religious indoctrination by extremist elements, wherein the respondent's daughter is already spewing narratives of hell and the torment meted out to sinners, she may be subject to undue pressure which could be an obstacle to truth seeking and dispensation of justice."
After the Kerala HC order, the father and his family is given round-the-clock security in view of threat perception from radical elements.