Hadiya, the woman at the centre of a religious conversion case, on Saturday said that she was not forced to convert to Islam and that she wanted to be with her husband. She said that she “wanted justice”.
Hadiya made the statements at Kochi airport while on her way to Delhi. She is travelling to the Capital to appear before the Supreme Court in the case on Monday, November 27. Her remarks come soon after her husband Shafin Jahan filed a complaint claiming some people were trying to convert her back to Hinduism.
She is travelling by air instead of by train because of security concerns, The News Minute reported. “Though the decision was to take her to Delhi by train, we were asked by the government to arrange air travel as there were security concerns about the train journey,” one of her father Ashokan’s lawyers told the website.
Ashokan has alleged that his daughter, whose name was Akhila before she converted, was forced to change her religion and that attempts were made to make her join a terrorist group. Hadiya has been with her parents since the Kerala High Court annulled her marriage and placed her in their custody in May this year. The Kerala Women’s Commission chief was not allowed to meet Hadiya earlier this month.
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