Hadiya Was to Go to Yemen as A Second Wife, Alleges Her Father

In a further twist to the unfolding mess that is the Hadiya case, her father, Asokan K M filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court on March 6 alleging that attempts were made to take her to Yemen. The affidavit raises several disturbing issues regarding the case as a whole. Firstly, the ‘new’ conspiracy was that prior to her ‘marriage’ to Shafin Jahan, Hadiya had come into contact with a person called Shanab. Shanab introduced her to his sister, Sherin Shahana who in turn introduced her to her husband, Fasil Musthafa. Musthafa proposed that she be his second wife and that he would take her to Yemen. When Hadiya mentioned this to her hostel friends they objected to her being a ‘second’ wife, this led her to reject the proposal. What the affidavit also states is that at the time, IS had a presence in Yemen. Though this is not in itself proof that she was to be ‘trafficked’, what emerges in the affidavit is that this ties in with the attempt to take her out of the country by her ‘husband’.

The affidavit raised issues regarding her state of mind. Firstly, the issue of her mental maturity was raised, as an adult what was the need to request a court-appointed ‘guardian’? The affidavit stated that she herself requested the Court to appoint Sainaba as her guardian. Secondly, since the commencement of the investigation, she has signed under several different names including her birth name. This too has contended to be a sign of mental immaturity. Thirdly, that despite pursuing a professional course, she wanted to go to Syria to raise sheep. While daydreams are not harmful, not many people would dream of rearing cattle in a war zone, unless driven by an ideology.

This is the main crux of the entire Hadiya case. That she has been systematically brainwashed primarily to traffic her to another country. The other disturbing evidence submitted in the affidavit includes a conversation between Shafin Jahan, her husband, and Mansi Buraaq, an alleged ISIS recruiter. In this conversation, Jahan asks how much he would get paid as a recruiting agent. As a part of the evidence, Facebook posts of her ‘husband’ were also referenced. The posts all referred to travelling to Syria and martyrdom.

To further the argument of systematic brainwashing, the affidavit referred to the time Hadiya spent away from her family and relatives while in the custody of Sainaba. It was alleged that Sainaba despite giving an assurance to the High Court that she would pay for Hadiya’s upkeep and education, Hadiya did not attend her classes. It was only after the intervention of her father that she was sent to the hostel. Further, the date on which she ‘married’ Jahan was the same as when the High Court had instructed Sainaba to produce Hadiya before it. The marriage certificate showed a time roughly one and a half hours after the Order was passed. The High Court took umbrage to this and viewed this development as an attempt to frustrate the proceedings, once Shafin Jahan presented himself before the Court as Hadiya’s ‘husband’ on the date Sainaba was to produce her.

Hadiya’s father in the affidavit stated that he has no objections to her following whichever religion she wishes to. However, his objections are to her association with persons of dubious affiliations, the attempts to ‘marry’ her, as well as the attempts to take her outside the country. The sequence of events in this case certainly point towards insidious designs, however, what is not determinable is whether these were for profit or ideology.