Hadiya re-run? 23-yr-old Uttarakhand man wants 20-yr-old wife freed' from parents

New Delhi: In what appears to be a re-run of the Hadiya case, the Supreme Court has asked Uttarakhand Police to produce a 20-year-old woman to court on Wednesday who converted to Islam to marry. Her husband has sought her ‘release’ from her parents’ custody.

Requesting the court to reunite him with his spouse, 23-year-old Mohammad Danish on Monday told a bench-led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that he was arrested for the abduction of his wife, Aisha alias Shweta Bhist and was lodged in the Haldwani jail since April 20.

Ordering Aisha to be in the court on Wednesday, CJI Misra said, “We want to talk to the girl and know what she wants. Does she want to stay with her parents or otherwise.”

According to reports the duo fell in love while they were pursuing bachelors in business administration in Bheemtal.

Since Aisha’s parents were opposed to the relationship, they eloped and got married in Delhi on April 19 as per Islamic customs, says a petition.

Bisht took the name Aisha after converting to Islam of her own free will and they got the marriage registered in Ghaziabad, it says.

Her parents lodged an abduction complaint against Danish and the Uttarakhand Police arrested the couple from Delhi the next day.

“The marriage certificate and the nikahnama are fake and it is a case of abduction,” deputy advocate general Manoj Gorkela said, as the Uttrakhand government rubbished Danish’s petition.

According to Danish, apprehending trouble, Aisha had emailed an affidavit to inspector general of police and Nanital senior superintendent of police informing them of her marriage and conversion.

In a landmark ruling under similar circumstances, the Supreme Court in March upheld the marriage of Hadiya, a 26-year-old Kerala woman who converted to Islam and wed a Muslim man, upholding a woman’s right to choose a partner.