Supreme Court asks NIA to probe Kerala 'love jihad' case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the NIA to probe a case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman to a Muslim man, as the agency claimed it was not an isolated incident but a "pattern" emerging in Kerala.

The Kerala High Court had annulled the marriage, terming it as an instance of 'love jihad'.

The apex court directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the incident under the supervision of a retired apex court judge, Justice R V Raveendran.

The NIA shall carry out the probe under the supervision of retired judge Justice R V Raveendran," a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud said.

The bench said it wanted the probe to be fair and the NIA, being an independent agency outside the state of Kerala, can conduct the probe in an impartial manner and have a different point of view.

"Before forming any opinion or arriving at a conclusion, we would like to consider the NIA's probe report, inputs from the Kerala Police and talk to the woman," it said.

The bench directed the NIA to submit its final investigation report to the court to enable it to arrive at any conclusion on the matter.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh appearing for NIA said prima facie it appears that the woman's conversion to Islam and her subsequent marriage to a Muslim was not an isolated incident and other such instances have come to the agency's notice.

Senior advocate V Giri appearing for Kerala said he has no objection to NIA probe if the apex court so desired.

He said that a SIT has already been formed which has been looking into the incident but he has no objection if NIA takes over the probe and Kerala police would cooperate with the agency.