College Dean Wants to Go by Media Reports, Claims He is the Guardian for Hadiya

The principal of Sivaraj Homeopathy Medical College at Salem in western Tamil Nadu, said Hadiya, the woman from Kerala, will have to inform him or her hostel’s warden if she wants to meet her husband Shafin Jahan. He said it is the prerogative of the college authorities whether to allow her not.

“All rules and regulations and restrictions of the college will apply to her and once a week, she will be allowed to go out to buy whatever she requires. But if she wants to meet her husband or anyone, she will have to inform us (the principal or the hostel warden) whom she is going to meet. It is we who will decide whether to allow her or not to meet her husband outside the college or the hostel on holidays,” the principal, G Kannan, told Newsclick over the phone.

He further said he has been informed by the media reports that he has been appointed as her guardian. Asked if he would go by the media report or the Supreme Court order, where there was no mention of Hadiya’s guardianship, he replied, “Yes, I know there is no such order on who will be her guardian but the media reports suggest that I have been appointed as her guardian," and added that “We have sought clarification from the apex court on the matter.”

When the SC bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud asked Hadiya to name any relative or any near acquaintance as her local guardian in college at Salem, she had said that she does not want anyone other than her husband in that role.

“If I am sent back to college to complete my course I want my husband to be my guardian,” she had said in the court. To which Justice Chandrachud had said, “A husband cannot be a guardian of his wife. Wife is not a chattel. She has her own identity in life and society. Even I am not the guardian of my wife. Please make her understand.”

Meanwhile, the top court has only given the liberty to the dean to approach Hadiya if there is “any problem” with regards to any aspect, but nowhere in the judgement has he been appointed as her local guardian.

"The Dean of the College shall approach this Court if there is any problem with regard to any aspect. ‘Any problem’ does not mean admission in the hostel or continuance in the course,” the court said in the order.

Asked if she will be allowed to use her cell phone, he listed out the hostel rules and said the use of mobile phone is allowed on the college campus. “There is a time restriction on mobile phone usage in the hostel. But we are considering to completely ban it there because students come here to study, not to talk over the phone. The cell phone of the warden is enough for them,” he said.

On being asked if the current restrictions amount to policing, he said, “These are the general rules that need to be complied with by every student of this institution.”

“If Hadiya or anyone wants complete freedom, he or she may leave our hostel and stay in their own accommodation. In the hostel extended hours of talking on the phone are not allowed, lights are to be switched off at 10 pm and visitors are allowed only once a week,” he added.

Validating his arguments, the principal said, “There are no extra restrictions or special provisions for her. Even the Supreme Court has not specified anything of that kind,” he added.

However, Hadiya says she still is not free. “I need freedom. I need the freedom to meet the person I love. I wanted to meet my husband. I am asking for fundamental rights. Till now, I did not get freedom. I don’t know if this is going to be another prison,” said a hurt Hadiya.

But the principal is firm that until he gets a directive from the SC, he cannot factor in these reasons.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Hadiya spoke to her husband over the phone. “Hadiya talked to Jahan (her husband) for a while from my mobile phone, after I, as local guardian, asked her whether she was interested in talking or meeting anybody,” news reports quoted the college dean as saying.

“She appeared to be relieved from depression after talking to him (husband). Hadiya also expressed regret for the tense situation prevailing in the college and inconvenience caused to the other students because of her,” he further added.

The 25-year-old got admission at the Sivaraj Homeopathy Medical College after an order from the top court, which freed her from her parents’ custody and asked her to complete her studies.

The girl, who converted to Islam, changed her name from Akhila Ashokan to Hadiya and married a man called Shafin Jahan when she was pursuing Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) from the same college. She was in her parents’ custody after the Kerala High Court annulled her marriage on her father’s plea against her conversion and marriage to a Muslim man.

While the SC did not take a decision on her marriage during her deposition on Monday, a lawyer had said the ruling meant she was free to meet her husband at the college hostel, where she will stay.

Hadiya’s parents had refused to accept her marriage to Shafin Jahan – a Muslim who returned to Kerala from the Middle East – claiming that he was a “terrorist” who wanted to take their daughter to Syria.

Following their petition that she had been brainwashed and forced into the marriage, the Kerala High Court had ordered an annulment and gave her custody to her parents in May this year. Shafin Jahan had challenged the order in the top court.

Hadiya, who was taken to the college today amidst heavy security, said it would be in place for at least the next two days.