Now, she is Dr Hadiya Asokan, says proud husband Shafin Jahan

Kottayam: Kerala woman Hadiya, who was caught in a religious conversion row after she married a Muslim youth, has triumphed all odds and fulfilled her dream to become a doctor. She was in the public glare in the past couple of years over the sensational case that grabbed national attention.

Her husband Shafin Jahan, in a Facebook post, announced that his wife Hadiya Asokan has completed her degree course in homeopathy (BHMS) and is a doctor now.

“This glittering victory is an outstanding achievement because it comes at the end of countless tears and prayers, perceptual struggles, pangs of love and separation, immense patience and so on… Finally, you have reached your destination braving all odds. Very proud to address you a Doctor. Dr Hadiya Asokan,’’ read the post.

The 26-year-old Hadiya is the only child of K M Ashokan, a retired BSF man, who hails from Vaikom in Kottayam. She has been in the eye of a storm ever since she converted to Islam and married Shafin in 2016.

With the marriage snowballing into a raging national controversy, her father moved the Kerala High Court alleging that it was a case of forced conversion. After the Kerala High Court annulled the marriage, her husband Shafin approached the Supreme Court, which restored Hadiya’s marriage to him last year and asked the NIA to investigate the case.

She was pursuing a graduation programme in homoeopathy medicine at the Sivaraj Homeopathic Medical College and Research Institute near Salem in Tamil Nadu when the entire episode took place. Though the HC ordered her confinement at her parents’ home, she stood firm and fought a lengthy legal battle for her right to choose a religion and marry.

Sensational case

Nearly a year ago, Supreme Court had set aside the HC verdict annulling the inter-faith marriage and restored it saying Hadiya had "absolute autonomy over her person."

Observing that the faith of a person was intrinsic to a person's meaningful existence, the top court had said that "choosing a faith is the substratum of individuality and sans it, the right of choice becomes a shadow."

Hadiya had appeared before the SC and had categorically stated that she had converted to Islam and married Shafin on her own free will.

Referring to Hadiya's father contentions, the top court said he may feel there was "enormous transgression" of his right to protect the interest of his daughter but his viewpoint "cannot be allowed to curtail her fundamental rights".

"Intimacies of marriage, including the choices which individuals make on whether or not to marry and on whom to marry, lie outside the control of the state. Courts as upholders of constitutional freedoms must safeguard these freedoms," an SC judge had said while delivering the verdict.

However, the apex court wanted the National Investigation Agency to probe the allegations raised by Asokan over the marriage. The NIA , however, was not able to find evidence to support the case of forced conversion.