This is the story of Hadiya, currently the most famous woman in India. Like any person of modest profile rocketed into national headlines, she\u2019d rather be leading an anonymous life. But her parents\u2014and the Supreme Court of India\u2014will not let her.<\/p>\n
Hadiya, a medical student, was born 25 years ago into a Hindu family in the southern state of Kerala. In 2015 she converted to Islam, and last year she married a Muslim man. In the process, she changed her Hindu given name from Akhila Ashokan to the adoptive Muslim Hadiya.<\/p>\n
Her parents, appalled by the decision, urged the courts to annul her marriage in December 2016. They contended that she had converted to Islam under duress. Worse, they alleged that their daughter\u2019s husband, Shafin Jahan, was involved in terrorism and intended to traffic her to Syria.<\/p>\n
In a judgment that was startling in its paternalism and sexism, the Kerala High Court annulled Hadiya\u2019s marriage, holding that she could not possibly have converted and married of her own free will.<\/p>\n