The Kerala High Court has ordered that Joisna Mary Joseph, whose marriage with a Muslim man has triggered a controversy in the state, be produced before it on Tuesday.
The court issued the order on a habeas corpus writ filed by Joisna's father Joseph who has claimed that his daughter has been taken away against her will and sought a probe into the matter by an agency from outside the state.
Joisna's interfaith marriage with Shejin, a local DYFI leader, has stirred up a political storm after the bride's relatives alleged "love jihad", with a senior CPM leader supporting the charge, only to retract his statement later.
The couple has, however, denied all the allegations and Joisna told media that she decided to live with Shejin at her own will.
Shejin on Sunday posted a photo of Joisna praying at a church on the Easter day. He captioned the picture, 'Happy Easter'.
Joseph approached the high court saying that since the day his daughter left her home, she has not spoken to any of them and therefore, he believed that she was being restrained against her will by the groom.
He had told reporters that since the Kerala police has not been able to bring his daughter to him, so that he can talk to her, he has no faith in the agency.
He said he will decide the future course of action based on the high court's decision.
The relatives of the bride levelled "love jihad' allegation after she recently walked out on her family and married Shejin without their consent.
Love jihad is a term used by the right wing outfits to claim that Muslim men lure women from other faiths to convert them into Islam.
A statement issued by the CPI(M) district secretariat member George M Thomas supporting the allegations of 'love jihad' on Tuesday added more fuel to the row and triggered an intense social media campaign by a section of people against the ruling party.
However, the CPI(M) district leadership intervened and made Thomas issue a clarification. The Marxist party, thereafter, made it clear that there was nothing unnatural in interfaith marriages and the campaign of 'love jihad' was a creation of RSS and Sangh Parivar.
