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Railways deny distributing Congress mouthpiece National Herald in trains after social media outrage

OpIndia Staff
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Railways deny distributing Congress mouthpiece National Herald in trains after social media outrage

The weekend had hardly begun and it witnessed some outrage when it emerged that copies of the Congress mouthpiece ‘National Herald’ newspaper, was found aboard the Swarn Shatabdi Express to Amritsar. National Herald is embroiled (along with its owners Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) in an alleged scam.

In fact, recently the National Herald ‘newspaper’ had also published a baseless hit job against Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, which was immediately fact-checked by us. And only yesterday, it was again in eye of a controversy for spreading fake news.

So it was natural that many social media users found it outrageous that such a propaganda driven pamphlet should find a space in Railways:


OpIndia got in touch with officials in the Rail Ministry who denied that the Congress mouthpiece was being distributed as part of some formal agreement between the publishers and the Railways. The officials said that complimentary copies of some newspapers are indeed distributed by the IRCTC through catering licensees in some selected trains, but National Herald was not one of them.

The officials said that if some passengers have found National Herald being supplied as a complimentary copy, it must have been put in the coaches when the trains are stationed at yard or at platform by the publishers or someone else, without any approval from the licencee/ IRCTC. Officials said that the development has been noted by the ministry after the outrage on social media, and station staff or waging line staff may prevent this unauthorised activity in future.

The officials further said that regardless of the printed price of the newspapers, Railways reimburses Rs. 2 per passenger based on occupancy, and only 8 newspapers were enlisted for this arrangement in the Northern Railway zone, and National Herald was not on the list. They again denied any formal arrangement involving any financial transaction. The same was confirmed by Northern Railway on Twitter:


So it appears that the publishers or distributors of the Congress mouthpiece National Herald are using the railways in an unauthorised manner to spread the party propaganda. Railways officials said that an inquiry will be undertaken to find out how these unauthorised copies found their way into the coaches of Shatabdi Express.

FactCheck: Did a Saharanpur candidate fail to get a single vote due to ‘faulty EVM’?

OpIndia Staff
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FactCheck: Did a Saharanpur candidate fail to get a single vote due to ‘faulty EVM’?

EVM related conspiracy theories have been the flavour of the past year or so, even though most such theories and claims have no basis and have been debunked. Earlier this year, reports of a faulty EVM emanated from Madhya Pradesh, which were eventually proved to be fake news. Similar fake news about an EVM was also reported from Rajasthan. Delhi CM Kejriwal was also party to spreading such rumours.

Yesterday, a similar news report surfaced from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur. According to reports, a candidate named Shabana from Ward 54 of Saharanpur, had alleged that she had got zero votes, hence she had questioned where did her own vote go?

The same story was rehashed by Congress mouthpiece National Herald:

So what is the truth? From the UP State Election Commission’s site, the result for Ward 54 of Saharanpur is available for all to see. Firstly, the winning candidate is one Mehraj Bano, an independent:

If indeed the EVM’s were tampered with, then it would be herculean task for an independent candidate to manage this feat. Secondly, all the other candidates lost their deposit, including the independent Shabana, who got only 87 votes, and not zero votes, as claimed by her in above reports:

AAP leaning journalist Ashutosh Mishra also posted a video of Shabana, where she made the allegations. While the news reports mentioned above are silent, in the video, the claim is made that in specific booth numbers (87 and 88 as per Shabana, and 387 and 388 as per her husband), Shabana did not get any vote. Her husband also claimed that he himself had voted from these booths but she did not get any vote.

The UP Election Commission site does not given booth-wise breakup of votes. But from the above list of candidates, one can note that there are two candidates named “Shabana” in the fray: One is the independent who has made the claim, with 87 votes, and the other is a Samajwadi Party candidate who received 1100 votes.

While the claim that the Independent Shabana got zero votes is wrong (since she got 87 votes), one cannot verify the claim that she got zero votes from 2 specific booths, the numbers of which are not clear.

While the rumour mill worked overtime, a Twitter user came up with an explanation for this entire fiasco.


At this point, neither of the claims can be verified. But it is intriguing how for so many people, EVMs magically start malfunctioning only when BJP wins, and not when BJP loses, Punjab for example.

India starts building 6 nuclear-powered attack submarines

Hemant Bijapurkar
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India starts building 6 nuclear-powered attack submarines

In what might be a huge boost to India’s indigenous defence production capabilities, the nation has commenced the process to build 6 nuclear powered submarines. Their induction in the navy’s armada is expected to significantly increase the Navy’s strike capabilities in the face of China’s growing belligerence in the Indo-pacific region.

Being a classified project, not many details are known but as per Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, the process has started.

As per Admiral Lanba, the Indian Navy would play a pivotal role in the Indo-Pacific region where a golden quadrilateral of India, Australia, Japan and the US is proposed to take shape. Lanba was quoted as saying, “all are aware of the prevailing security scenario in the maritime domain and the continued presence of both traditional and non-traditional threats demand constant attention and robust mitigating measures.”

In 2016, INS Arihant was commissioned as India’s first ingenious nuclear powered submarine. After India inducts 6 more such warships, it would not only become a fearsome naval force, it would also become a strong force in defence manufacturing.

We had recently reported how DRDO too is making very impressive strides in defence production after it developed India’s first unmanned remotely operated tank. The tank named Muntra was rolled out of DRDO’s Chennai lab.

This tank can chiefly be used in three ways that are surveillance, mine detection and reconnaissance. It can also operate in areas which have nuclear and bio hazards.

India is also significantly progressing in the field of Nuclear power. We had recently reported how work was supposed to begin at Rooppur Nuclear Power plant in Bangladesh, which is India’s first overseas atomic venture.

This upcoming nuclear power plant is being built via an Indo-Russian collaboration and its “first pouring of concrete” ceremony was to take place on 30th November. This has been conveyed to New Delhi and the ceremony would take place at Rooppur which is about 169 kilometres.

UP Civic Polls: Potshots galore after Congress suffers a humiliating defeat in Amethi

Hemant Bijapurkar
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UP Civic Polls: Potshots galore after Congress suffers a humiliating defeat in Amethi

On Friday, the counting began for the civic polls in the state of Uttar Pradesh. These polls were being considered the first test of popularity for the Yogi Adityanath led BJP government.

Going by latest data, the BJP has successfully passed the test with the party leading in 14 out of 16 mayoral seats, with the BSP leading in the remaining ones.

The party which has been far from successful is the Congress. Apart from failing to win a mayoral seat, the party also suffered humiliation in Rahul Gandhi’s constituency Amethi after reports claimed that its candidates were trailing from all the Nagar Panchayat seats of the region. It indeed comes as no surprise considering the “Rahul Gandhi missing” posters that came up in Amethi earlier this year.

Amethi incidentally also saw the Samajwadi Party leading in Gauriganj, which was incidentally provided a municipal council status by Akhilesh Yadav in 2014.

The BJP too tasted success in the region after it was reported that the party won the region’s Nagar Panchayat. This meant that senior BJP leaders like Smriti Irani and Yogi Adityanath didn’t waste any time from taking potshots at Rahul Gandhi.

Yogi Adityanath took a sly dig at Rahul Gandhi by stating that those who are making tall claims in Gujarat could not even open their account in Uttar Pradesh:


Smriti Irani who has been heavily involved in the constituency ever since she contested the 2014 lok sabha polls from there, too decided to take a dig by stating that people have rejected Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

Far worse was yet to come for Rahul Gadhi after various twitter users too decided to lampoon the Congress vice-president:


A few gave credit to Smriti Irani for Congress’ debacle:


BJP Delhi’s spokesperson too decided to make a contribution:


It remains to be seen if the Congress party, to ensure a Rahul victory in Amethi, would now buckle up and do something along the line of what it did for Ahmed Patel in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections. But unfortunately, unlike its MLAs, its not possible to take the people “hostage” to achieve one’s political goals.

While Republic TV wins the case, ‘The News Minute’ looks for Shashi Tharoor’s victory

OpIndia Staff
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While Republic TV wins the case, ‘The News Minute’ looks for Shashi Tharoor’s victory

Not too long ago, in May 2017, Shashi Tharoor had filed a defamation case against Arnab Goswami and the Republic TV. Tharoor also sought a permanent and prohibitory injunction restraining the channel from airing any news about the death of Sunanda Pushkar, Tharoor’s wife, till the investigations were over.

Today, the Delhi High Court refused to restrain the channel and Arnab Goswami from airing news and debates related to the death of Susanda Pushkar.

Justice Manmohan observed that while Arnab Goswami is free to report and conduct debates, prior to running a story he must ask Tharoor for his version. If he fails to respond within a reasonable period of time, Republic is free to run the story. He observed :

“However, before airing any story pertaining to the plaintiff, the defendants shall give the plaintiff a written notice, by electronic mode, asking for his version. If the plaintiff refuses or does not reply within a reasonable time, he will not be compelled to speak and the story will be aired with the disclosure that the plaintiff has refused to speak to the defendants.”

LiveLaw also reported the following observations by Justice Manmohan :

“Press cannot “convict anyone” or insinuate that he/she is guilty or make any other unsubstantiated claims. Press has to exercise care and caution while reporting about matters under investigation or pending trial”.

“This Court refrains from saying anything more as Mr. Sandeep Sethi, learned senior counsel for defendants had assured this Court on 29th May, 2017 that the defendants in future would exercise restraint as well as bring down the “rhetoric‟ and even according to Mr. Salman Khurshid, learned senior counsel for plaintiff, subsequent to the said statement the “previous vitriolic attack‟ was missing. The statement made by Mr. Sandeep Sethi is accepted by this Court and defendants are held bound by the same”

While the High Court clearly upheld the right of Republic TV and Arnab Goswami to air news and debates revolving around the death of Sunanda Pushkar and shot down Shashi Tharoor’s plea for prohibitory injunction, ‘TheNewsMinute’, an online portal, was found taking a different line of argument.

While the direction taken by The News Minute in its headline wasn’t inaccurate as The High Court did observe Tharoor’s version should be sought and failing a response, Republic TV was free to air the story, one might say it wasn’t the essence of the judgement considering the case that was being heard.

The portal was immediately called out by Prema Sridevi, who is one of the Editors at Republic TV, to which Dhanya Rajendran, the Editor-in-Chief responded.


Dhanya Rajendran’s contention was that it was an agency story hence the portal can’t be blamed for the angle it took, while Prema argued that this was a question of editorial discretion.


In fact, Republic TV was even congratulated by Subramanian Swamy, who has been fighting to get justice for Sunanda Pushkar.


‘TheNewsMinute’ has since updated the headline :

The case filed against Republic TV was indeed thrown out by the Delhi High Court and it was a victory for the channel. Shashi Tharoor’s contention was disallowing the channel to report on the matter, and that was summarily dismissed. While the agency report may have taken a certain line of argument, ‘TheNewsMinute’ should have certainly taken an editorial call to alter the headline and report the true essence of the judgement, rather than a side note. The responsibility of the line of argument taken by a portal is the portal’s alone and a higher editorial standard is certainly to be expected.

ABVP accuses ‘The Quint’ of spreading fake news originally published by Congress mouthpiece

OpIndia Staff
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ABVP accuses ‘The Quint’ of spreading fake news originally published by Congress mouthpiece

On 25th November 2017, ‘The Quint’ published an article based on ‘news’ put out by the Congress mouthpiece National Herald. The Quint report was headlined ‘After JNU and DU, ABVP loses Gujarat Central University polls’.


The opening paragraph of the article clearly stated that the report had been taken from National Herald which is not only a Congress Party mouthpiece but is also in the eye of massive Income Tax investigations for alleged scam. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are two of the Congress leaders who are accused of being directly involved in this alleged scam.

‘The Quint’ report also quoted Kavita Krishnan, the left wing ‘activist’ talking about how this is a huge setback for BJP. This quote had also been taken from National Herald.

Today a clarification was tweeted refuting the publication’s claims.


Mr. Chauthaiwale claimed that ABVP had actually won 7 out of 10 seats in Central Gujarat University and out of the 7 seats, ABVP won 5 of them unopposed. He tweeted a Press Release on the ABVP letterhead.

The ABVP Press Release claimed that the student body is confident of getting the Convenership, Co-convenership and and Office Secretary of Student Council with its recent win in Central University of Gujarat.

The original article in the ‘National Herald’ was written by a journalist called Vishwa Deepak. Vishwa’s shot to fame when news surfaced of him resigning from Zee News because he was unhappy with the way the channel handled the ‘JNU controversy’ which wasn’t surprising considering Vishwa’s personal political beliefs.

It is thus intriguing that National Herald would employ someone who holds political views that are detrimental to the sovereignty of this country.

While such blatant agenda peddling is expected from National Herald being a party mouthpiece, it is tragic that ‘The Quint’ would run unsubstantiated news from a portal that parrots a party line and not authenticated news.

Two gaffes and one lie in a single speech – Rahul Gandhi’s latest contribution to Congress’ Gujarat campaign

OpIndia Staff
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Two gaffes and one lie in a single speech – Rahul Gandhi’s latest contribution to Congress’ Gujarat campaign

The cauldron of Gujarat’s assembly elections is heating up and it seems the prospects of the Congress party may be getting burnt in the heat.

Only a few days back the party was put into a spot after social media erupted with reports of Rahul Gandhi’s appeared in the ‘non-Hindu’ register before taking the darshan of the famous Somnath Temple. Rather than tactfully dealing with the issue, the Congress caused extra confusion and later took things to the next level by calling Rahul a “Janeu dhaari Hindu”. It has since then taken the discourse to a new low by claiming that PM Modi is not a real Hindu.

Now Rahul Gandhi might become a further cause of embarrassment to the party thanks to one of his illogical allegation in a Gujarat rally on Thursday.

As per a video captured by ‘TV9 Gujarat’, Rahul is seen (3:37 onward) making an accusation against Prime Minister Modi that he has given a whopping 45,000 crore acre land to a single industrialist in Mundra, Gujarat, just at the rate of Rs 1 per meter:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzHeLemmX2c?rel=0&showinfo=0&start=216]

Such a whooping figure might have shocked and possibly even angered his supporters, but a simple research about the earth’s geography reveals how far away from truth, Rahul Gandhi was.

The total land mass of Gujarat is about 1,96,024 square kilometres which after calculation (1 square KM = 247.1 acres) , roughly turns out to be about 4.84 crore acres. To further simplify things, the total land area of India is about 29,73,190 square kilometres which turns out to be 73.46 crore acres.

So as per Rahul Gandhi, PM Narendra Modi has managed to give a single industrialist a piece of land, which is bigger than the total land this country has.

Now coming to the point about Modi giving industrialists land at throwaway prices of Rs 1 per square meter only.

Even though Rahul Gandhi didn’t name anyone, possibly to ensure plausible deniability, such an allegation is similar to the one he made during 2014, where he alleged that Modi gave a 45,000 acre land to Gautam Adani at throwaway price of Rs 1.

Soon after such a charge was made, media reports had pointed out that it were actually Congress backed governments in Gujarat that gave land at cheap prices to the Adani group and Modi commanded a rate which was way higher than that:

Image via Times of India

Also it seems that Rahul Gandhi made a basic mathematical error when he claimed that Modi’s rate of sale was Rs 1 per meter. “Per meter” can never be a unit to measure area and what Rahul should have said was Rs 1 per square meter.

Such misrepresentations have become quite the norm in Rahul Gandhi’s rallies. We had reported how Rahul Gandhi had lied about the Sardar Patel statue being made in China, while the truth was that, just some minor parts were being manufactured there. He had later furthered a leftist propaganda blog’s claims about Amit Shah’s son’s financial wrongdoings, which were already debunked by us. He took his lying to such a level that even TATA Motors had to come out and issue a statement debunking his lies about its factory in Sanand, Gujarat.

While this isn’t the only time Rahul Gandhi has been caught lying in Gujarat’s rallies, this may as well be the first time that he accused Prime Minister Modi of giving away more land than the entire country is made up of.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation to install idols of Goddess Saraswati in 582 schools

OpIndia Staff
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South Delhi Municipal Corporation to install idols of Goddess Saraswati in 582 schools

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has as per reports announced its intention to install idols of Goddess Saraswati in 582 of its Primary schools. The corporation decided to take this decision at its monthly standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

This decision was put forth by Anamika Mithilesh, the councillor from Hari Nagar. She stated that the children who come study in these primary schools are poor and more often than not lack interest in academics. Hence the installation of Goddess Saraswati’s idol would not only serve as a blessing for the kids, it would also make them feel more enthusiastic about studies.

She has also put forth the proposal that a grand celebration be carried out during Basant Panchami. 

As per SDMC’s Standing Committee chairman, Bhupender Gupta, the schools would be responsible for sourcing these Murtis out of their own funds, thereby putting no financial strain on the corporation. This as per him, resulted in the corporation agreeing to this proposal.

Apart from this, the corporation is also thinking about implementing innovative learning techniques in these schools. The corporation has also decided that on Saturday the students won’t be required to bring either their books or bags to school. On that day instead of bookish learning, the students would be taught about India’s great icons from a variety of fields like history, religion, literature, sciences, sports, to name a few.

While on one hand the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is promoting the devotion towards Goddess Saraswati, on the other hand it was seen how Muslim groups had stopped a school from celebrating Saraswati Puja in West Bengal.

We had reported the tensions had risen in the Tehatta High School after Muslim groups and locals had forcibly entered the school in December to celebrate Nabi Diwas (Birthday of Prophet Mohammed), which included making religious speeches. They had later also proceeded to vandalise the school property.

About a month later, when the date of Saraswati puja started nearing, such groups again demanded to celebrate Nabi Diwas on 28th January. The headmaster as a result begged the Uluberia police to take some preventive steps as the school could see another forcible gathering and protests. This allegedly angered the groups as they again vandalised the school property.

The district inspector of schools, thus, ordered the school to remain shut until further notice, thereby ensuring that the 65 years old tradition of Saraswati Puja celebrations stood cancelled.

Enforcement Directorate raids properties of Ahmed Patel’s close aide

OpIndia Staff
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Enforcement Directorate raids properties of Ahmed Patel’s close aide

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided the houses and premises of Sanjay Mahajan, who is believed to be a close aide of senior Congress leader and Sonia Gandhi’s close aide: Ahmed Patel. This raid was conducted in connection with a money laundering case which involves the Sandesara Group of companies. This Sandesara group is alleged to have been involved in high value suspicious transactions which amount to as much as Rs 5,383 crore.

As per an ED spokesperson, searches were conducted at Mahajan’s establishments in Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Babar Road in Delhi. Apart from him, the agency also raided the premises of three other persons namely Ghanshyam Pandey, Lakshmi Chand Gupta and Arvind Gupta.

This isn’t the only time Ahmed Patel has got into trouble due to his supposed associations.

A huge storm was kicked up in Gujarat recently after it was reported that one of the ISIS terrorists who was arrested by Gujarat ATS used to work in a hospital whose patron used to be Ahmed Patel.

Such a connection had resulted in ‪Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani attacking Ahmed Patel by asking as to why should he (Ahmed Patel) not be held responsible. Patel had later dismissed these allegations.

Such strange associations of Ahmed Patel might lead to the speculation as to whether his cons outweigh the pros for the Congress party.

Only recently, the party had thrown all its weight to help Ahmed Patel scrape through with a Rajya Sabha win. It looked like the party might fall short of the required numbers as its Gujarat MLAs continued to quit the party in the run-up these elections.

In order to ensure that they had the required numbers, the party airlifted its remaining MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru. This created a huge loss of goodwill for the party as Gujarat was hit with a flood during this “hostage taking exercise” which meant that the party was attacked with reports like, “Congress MLAs enjoy karaoke night even as flood fury continues in Gujarat”. 

Hadiya and ‘Love Jihad’ : It is not a simple case of ‘free will’

Sambit Nayak
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Hadiya and ‘Love Jihad’ : It is not a simple case of ‘free will’

The “Hadiya Love Jihad” case has raised many questions among the Indian intelligentsia. Can court govern our free will on whom to marry? Can court rule on which religion we chose to profess? Should the court tell us who we should live with? How is it that the court can decide who we can meet and who we can not?

It is being seen by many as judicial overreach into citizen’s free will on marriage and religion, guaranteed by article 15 and 25 of the Indian Constitution, which are fundamental rights of every citizen.

Can courts really go so wrong in interpreting and following the constitution? Do our Twitter activists know about the case better than the judges?

It is understandable that one rushes to make right noises over free will and freedom of religion over the issue, but it is important to look at the case with its context and background, not as an isolated case of court annulling an inter-faith marriage, to make an informed decision.

A brief history of the case tells us that Akhila, the only daughter of ex-serviceman Akhil Asokan, a resident of Kottayam, Kerala, went to Salem, Tamil Nadu to pursue Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) in 2015. On 6th January, 2016, Akhila went missing from a house in Salem, where she was staying with her friends Faseena and Jaseena. Her father filed a missing complaint with police where he accused her room-mates and their father Aboobacker. Thereafter, when Akhila could not be traced, Asokan filed a Habeas Corpus in Kerala High Court, following which Akhila appeared in the court on 19th January, 2016.

There Akhila, now Hadiya, confessed to have converted to Islam out of her own free will, “impressed” by her room-mates’ way of living, prayers and “good character”. She even produced an affidavit where she said she was accepting Islam out of her free will with no coercion. Thereafter, she stayed in an Islamic study centre named “Sathya Sarani” and got enrolled as a student. She stayed with a PFI (Popular Front of India) member Sainaba.

After her affidavit, Ashokan’s petition was dismissed. However, Ashokan filed another petition after 6 months, where he alleged that efforts were being made to transport his daughter out of the country. The court passed an interim order, asking police to ensure that Akhila/Hadiya is not taken to a foreign land. Meanwhile, Akhila had been moved from Sainaba’s residence to an undisclosed location.

Now, while the case was going on, court directed the police to look at the role of Sainaba and Sathya Sarani in illegal conversions while ascertaining how Akhila is maintaining her and her source of income. In the meantime, on 21st December 2016, she appeared with someone called Shafin Jehan, whom she claimed to be her husband.

Among the 6 respondents in the case, Shafin Jehan was nowhere in the picture. They also produced a questionable marriage certificate, and claimed that they have got married which was attended by close relatives from both sides. However, nobody from Akhila’s side, not even her parents, were aware of the marriage. Moreover, “Thanveerul Islam Sangham”, which issued the marriage certificate has no authority to issue any such certificates. The court observed:

“The certificate is seen to have been issued by the Secretary of an organization by name Thanveerul Islam Sangham, Kottakkal, Malappuram District. We do not know what is the organization that has issued the certificate. It is not clear whether it is even registered.Whether it is only a paper organization alone, also requires to be ascertained.“

The court was not even sure of the identity of the names that appeared on that certificate. When Akhila converted to Islam, which doesn’t have any documentary proof, she assumed the name “Aasiya” through an affidavit. Later on her writ petitions, she called herself “Akhila Ashokan @ Adhiya.”

“Though it is repeatedly stated that Ms. Akhila has got converted to the Islam religion, there is no document evidencing such conversion on record. The name which she is alleged to have chosen, according to an affidavit executed by her before Adv.Devy A.C., Advocate and Notary on 10.9.2015 is ‘Aasiya’.

In W.P.(Crl.) No. 25 of 2016 she has sworn to affidavits describing herself as Akhila Ashokan@ Adhiya. In this writ petition, in her affidavits, she describes herself as ‘Akhila Ashokan @ Adhiya’.”

However, she comes across as Hadiya in the questionable marriage certificate that she produced.

“In the alleged marriage certificate issued by Thanveerul Islam Sangham dated 20.12.2016 produced by the Senior Government Pleader along with a memo dated 19.12.2016, her name is shown as Hadiya, D/o. Akhil Asokan. It is clear from the above that, even regarding the identity of Ms. Akhila, there is no certainty.”

Hadiya’s husband Shafin Jehan’s radical inclination is evident from his Facebook postings as noted by the court. He has criminal background and had cases registered under IPC section 143, 147, 341, 323, 294(b).

The questionable marriage certificate, the issuing authority being a non-authoritative institute to issue such certificate, court being kept in dark about the marriage, the criminal antecedent of Shafin Jehan and clear intention of taking Akhila to Gulf after marriage are the factors the court considered in its wisdom before it annulled the marriage. Here is the full judgement of the case [pdf], which observes:

“The marriage was conducted in a hasty manner with the object of overreaching the jurisdiction of this Court with the object of transporting her out of India. Shafin was only a stooge who has been assigned to play the role of going through a marriage ceremony.”

So before outraging on how courts can ‘undo’ a marriage, do consider that it’s a court of law, where material evidences are admitted, not a news studio where passionate rhetoric aimed at virtue signalling can clinch the deal for you. There were just too many reasons why the High Court ‘annulled’ the so-called marriage:

  1. The marriage certificate was not issued by competent authority
  2. Names on the questionable ‘marriage certificate’ were not matching with real names
  3. Court was kept in dark about the marriage even though a case was going on

Now here comes the question of free will. Given that Hadiya had submitted an affidavit that she is accepting Islam in her free will, should the state interfere in how she decides to live her life? Looking at isolation, absolutely no. However, looking at the matter in its entirety, the following questions arise:

  • Today she says she wants to complete her studies. But she left her studies midway to join a 6 month Islamic course which she continued only for 2 months.
  • The court trusted Sainaba as the guardian of Akhila. She should have at least informed the court that Akhila’s marriage is being considered. But she didn’t even inform her natural guardians i.e. her parents who are alive.
  • What is the role of PFI in this, given both Sainaba and Shafin Jehan draw allegiance to PFI? PFI is known to be a radical Islamic outfit having connection with Islamic terrorist groups, possessing arms, rioting, “Love Jihad” and cutting off hand of Prof. TJ Joseph for setting a ‘blasphemous’ question paper of Islamic prophet Mohammed. Kerala police and NIA have raided arms training camp conducted by PFI and Kerala govt has given affidavits in court that PFI members are involved in murders of RSS members in Kerala.
  • Shafin Jehan had connection with someone called Mansy Buraqui, who also belonged to PFI and was arrested by NIA for having connection with ISIS, beside Shafin Jehan himself has criminal charges on him. Shafin Jehan is also part of many WhatsApp group which are Islamic fundamentalist in nature.
  • In a similar case, another girl from Thiruvananthapuram Nimisha, had accepted Islam and became Fathima and married Isa, supposedly out of her free will. The court had dismissed her mother’s petition and later the girl with her husband left to Afghanistan to join ISIS.
  • Shafin had expressed interest in taking Akhila to Gulf, where he claimed to have find a job and given there was a confusion on the real name of Akhila/Hadiya/Aasiya, it would have become impossible to even trace her out had she been taken out of India. There are reports of girls taken out of the country after such conversions, having become untraceable.

    An observation by the court
  • These cases are not new to Kerala. In fact, forcible conversion by radicalising young minds is so rampant in Kerala that the High Court had asked government to frame suitable laws to stop “Love Jihad”.

Based on the history of this region, precedents and unanswered questions in this particular case, it will be foolish to look at the matter as a case of a girl marrying to an young man of another faith out of her free will. The matter is linked with internal security, and the courts are assessing all aspects.

One really has to be a fool to believe that an inter-faith marriage (well, technically it is not inter-faith when one of the adults convert and accept the same faith) is being questioned by the courts. There are tonnes of such marriages happening all around the country and courts are not bothered. This goes beyond the purview of freedom to practice one’s religion and free will.

No one (among those being heard by the Supreme Court, where lawyers like Kapil Sibal are arguing for Hadiya, who claims to earn 2000/- a month as house surgeon but is able to get Sibal and senior lawyers like Indira Jaisingh to argue for her) is objecting to an inter-faith marriage or free will. It is NOT the marriage that is being questioned but the consequences of one’s actions that is being looked at.

It is not a singular event. There is whole set of grey areas and precedents that has to be looked at. Recently, there was an intel report that ISIS may try to poison Sabrimala pilgrims by poisoning water in railway stations in Kerala. Kerala police has said that about 100 people from Kerala have joined ISIS over the years. Her husband and her former guardian Sainaba are PFI members which is believed to be the reincarnation of the banned Islamist outfit SIMI. With this background, the Kerala High Court noted that, “In the present state of affairs, it is absolutely unsafe to let Akhila [be] free to do as she likes.”

Of course, free will is paramount but so is national security and internal security. Remember that even ‘preventive detentions’ technically go against the principle of ‘free will’ and liberty. However, our laws allow that and governments have used such laws more often than not. In fact, our activists themselves demand such restrictions to be imposed on various occasions.

If your free will has consequences on the national security, then sorry, your free will can not be yielded to — that’s how it is right now in India and many countries abroad, including in the US, considered to be the best when it comes to individual freedom and liberty. However, the matter is sub-judice and I will not like to pass a judgement. The court in its wisdom has asked NIA to look into the matter and I believe it is a step in the right direction.

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