TNN | Oct 30, 2017, 08:27 IST
CHENNAI: The Kerala high court's order annulling the marriage of Hadiya to Shafin Jahan amounts to interference on the part of the court in her right to privacy, said retired Madras high court judge D Hariparanthaman. He and activists V Geetha and Usha Ramanathan, was speaking on the Hadiya case ahead of a seminar session to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court's verdict on privacy being a fundamental right. The Hadiya case will be heard by the apex court on Monday .
"Annulling the marriage when hearing a habeas corpus writ plea is unheard of. I think it is for the first time that such an order is passed," he said.
Usha Ramanathan pointed out that courts need to under stand the significance of National Investigating Agency and the likes, before bringing them in on cases. "It is terrifying that the NIA was brought in to investigate (Hadiya case). It was not a responsible (move)," Ramanathan said of the SC's order. To a question, wheather they thought the judiciary has allowed itself to be a tool in the hands of communal forces in the light of its observations on the case, Geetha said that the probe was being given communal colours by external forces.
"Judiciary has not and is not adding communal colours to the investigation. The communal angle is only furthered by the majoritarian polity in this country," Geetha observed.
"We are saying the (Kerala HC) judgment was wrong based on the fact that Hadiya was a major. She is not under-18 or mentally unstable," said Hariparanthaman.
During the event, a city based activist group Vettiver Collective also debuted a video compilation featuring city rapper Sofia Ashraf, Carnatic singer T M Krishna, writer-novelist Perumal Murugan and Punebased folk singer and Dalit activist Shital Sathe. Titled `Privacy Matters', the video discuss the importance of privacy and what it means to them when they realise it is being violated.
For Ashraf, losing her privacy means losing dignity . "I will not lose my dignity by being ID'ed," she says in the video.