The love jehad case has tied the Supreme Court in knots with the judges wondering under which law a marriage between two consenting adults could be annulled on a fear that the girl is vulnerable to be trafficked. “The test of determining the vulnerability of an adult is subjective in a given situation. law is averse to this kind of a notion,” the judges observed while posting the case to March 8.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra felt that in deciding the case an issue was troubling it as to how the High Court could nullify a marriage between consenting adults. “We cannot say that she married the right person or the marriage was in her best interest. What troubles us is, can there be a roving enquiry about the marital status between two consenting adults,” observed the bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.
The girl Akhila alias Hadiya who was initially a Hindu but later converted to Islam and married Shafin Jahan even filed an affidavit claiming that she wished to remain with her husband and that her conversion to Islam was voluntary. While the father of the girl, KM Ashokan sought time to file a response, his lawyer senior advocate Shyam Divan asked the Court to consider the chain of circumstances as there was an organised racket behind trafficking of such girls to foreign countries. He submitted that HC was shown this material based on which her marriage was annulled as in such cases, marriage is used as a “charade” to prevent scrutiny by Courts.
The court said, “As far as marriage is concerned, it does not warrant any investigation.” On the issue of trafficking of vulnerable adults, the bench observed, “If citizens are taken abroad as part of trafficking, the Government has the authority to stop them. We are not entering that area. But in personal law, we cannot annul marriages because she did not marry the right person.”