press trust of india
New Delhi, August 16: The Supreme Court 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” was emerging in Kerala.
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 top court observed that like in the ‘Blue Whale’ — an internet game which allegedly give series of tasks to players with a final challenge requiring him or her to commit suicide, it was now easy to persuade someone to perform a particular task. “This will not be an Special Investigation Team (SIT). The NIA shall carry out the probe under the supervision of retired judge Justice R V Raveendaran,” 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 in the court to enable it to arrive at any conclusion in 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. He claimed that in the other incidents, some players were allegedly found involved in converting young Hindu girls who had some differences with their parents, to Islam.
