by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
K.M. Shaji
Kochi : In a setback to the Congress-led UDF, K.M. Shaji, an MLA from the IUML, was disqualified on Friday by the Kerala High Court for violating the election code of conduct for making communal overtures in his election campaign.
Shaji, who was declared ineligible to contest an election for six years, said he would move the High Court again and then the Supreme Court.
Justice P.D. Rajan delivered the verdict on a petition filed by journalist-turned-CPI-M candidate M.V. Nikesh Kumar, who finished second in the election.
Shaji retained the Azhikode constituency in Kannur district in a bitterly fought battle by a margin of 2,462 votes. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is the second biggest constituent in the UDF.
The court also asked Shaji to pay Rs 50,000 as cost to the petitioner but did not declare Kumar the winner from Azhikode. It instead asked for a fresh election.
Shaji told the media that the verdict was a big blot to his secular credentials.
“I am deeply pained that the court has termed me communal, which I never am. I was one who boldly told on the eve of polling day that I do not want a single vote from communal parties. Once I reach Kochi, I will decide the legal steps I will be taking,” he said.
Kumar said he saw the verdict as a political victory.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday restored the controversial marriage of Hadiya, formerly a Hindu, with Shafin Jahan, setting aside a Kerala High Court order annulling their wedding.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said: “Hadiya alias Akhila Asokan is at liberty to pursue her future endeavours according to law.”
But the court said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would continue its probe into the criminal dimension of the case, if any.
“We clarify that the investigation by the NIA in respect of any matter of criminality may continue in accordance with law,” the court said.
Pronouncing a brief operative order after lunch, Chief Justice Misra said the high court should not have annulled the marriage, following a Habeas Corpus petition, by exercising its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution.
Chief Justice Misra said: “We hold that the high court should not have annulled the marriage between Shafin Jahan and Hadiya.”
The order also referred to Hadiya personally appearing before the Supreme Court on November 27 and admitting to her marriage with Shafin Jahan, who had challenged the High Court order that nullified the marriage.
Hadiya, 24, embraced Islam and married Shafin Jahan, a Muslim. Hadiya’s father alleged that she was forcibly converted by groups with links to terrorist outfits.
In the course of the arguments on Thursday, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shafin Jahan, submitted nine propositions of law to be addressed before looking into the case on facts.
He said that the right to choose a life partner is part of right to life and the marriage can only be dissolved by any one of the two in wedlock.
Asserting that in certain cases the high court can annul a marriage, senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for Hadiya’s father Asokan K.M., said “Hadiya’s marriage with Shafin Jahan was to defeat the proceedings before the high court”.
He said that all this was backed by well-oiled machinery which was alluring and trafficking people to Syria.
Observing that they (the couple) can’t go without the passport and the government had powers to prevent them from leaving the country, the court asked if NIA investigation has found any offence against the couple.
The court made it clear that the NIA could continue with its investigation but without interfering in their married life.
On October 3, the Supreme Court had said it would examine whether the high court could annul the marriage following a petition by her parents.
Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict on Thursday, Hadiya’s father said he “respects the court order but will seek legal recourse on the verdict”.
“The verdict has only cleared that her marriage is in order. The court has asked for the NIA probe to continue as the larger question we raised is that Shafin Jahan is a terrorist,” he told the media at his house near Kottayam in Kerala.
“We accept the apex court’s order as the law has to be respected. A father is in pain to hear that his daughter has gone with a terrorist. We still maintain the marriage was stage-managed… We will seek legal recourse,” Asokan said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Kerala woman Akhila Asokan, alias Hadiya who is in the midst of a ‘love jihad’ controversy, has told the Supreme Court that she is a Muslim now and wants to live with her husband Shafin Jahan — with whom her marriage was annulled by the Kerala High Court.
In an affidavit before the top court, Hadiya said after converting to Islam “I am a Muslim and I want to continue to live as a Muslim”.
“I want to continue to live as wife of my beloved husband Shafin Jahan and I embraced Islam and married him on my own free will.”
Seeking the restoration of her liberty as she has been under confinement and continues to be under police surveillance, Hadiya urged the court to appoint Jahan as her guardian and asked that they be allowed to live together as husband and wife.
She also sought the setting side of the Kerala High Court order of May 24, 2017, annulling her marriage.
The matter is coming up for hearing on Thursday.
Claiming that her father Asokan K.M. is under the influence of “certain section” of people, Hadiya said that it was these people who “played and are still playing behind my father”.
All those errant personnel, both official and non-official, who subjected or caused to subject me to the “horrendous torture and torments” are liable to be brought to justice, she said.
“The baseless and malicious propaganda being made by the investigating agency and by the evil forces behind my father that I am mentally not sound, that I have connection with the IS and the media trial on these allegations would detrimentally affect my future and career as a doctor, causing irreparable heavy injuries and loss to me,” she said in her affidavit.
The top court had on January 23 impleaded Hadiya as a party to the case being heard by it.
The court had told the NIA, which is investigating the matter, to continue with its probe into any criminality in the marriage, but not to intrude into it.
The top court by its November 27, 2017 order had set Hadiya free from the custody of her parents and directed that she be allowed to complete her studies at a Salem homeopathy college.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News, Politics
Kochi : Two days after the Vigilance Department submitted a report in the 2014 Bar Scam case to the Kerala High Court, the court on Friday ordered that there will be no further media trials in the case.
The Vigilance has started a probe into a leak involving its report exonerating former Kerala Finance Minister K.M.Mani, that was submitted to the court on Wednesday.
The case took a sudden twist on Wednesday, when the Vigilance report leaked in the media said “there was no substantial evidence against Mani” about him accepting a Rs one crore bribe in 2014.
In October 2014, bar hotel owner Biju Ramesh had alleged that Mani was paid the bribe for his promise to reopen all bars closed in the state following a new excise policy.
The Vigilance report on Mani found its way into the media. Soon a media trial was started on the “manner in which cases are being handled”.
It was following this that the high court ordered that from now on there should be no more media trial. It was angry on how the contents of the such a report found its way into the hands of the media.
The court on Wednesday, asked the Vigilance Department to submit its final report in another 45 days time and until then all sorts of discussions in the media was banned.
The Bar Scam case to a large extent discredited the previous Oommen Chandy government and Mani in particular.
Following a court remark in November 2015, Mani had to quit as Minister.
This was used as one of the biggest election campaign issue by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) during the May 2016 assembly polls, romping the LDF home and trouncing the Chandy-led Congress.
Mani, however, is tight-lipped and has refused to react. He said he “has nothing to say as the court is looking into it”.
—IANS
