'Victim of forceful conversion': 25-year-old girl files plea in Kerala HC

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 25-year old girl has filed a petition in the Kerala High Court stating that she is a victim of forceful conversion, fraudulent marriage and attempt to sexual slavery.

The girl has approached the court to nullify her marriage. She has also requested for a probe by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) into these 'anti-national activities'. 

In her plea, the woman stated that she met Muhammed Riyaz in Bengaluru and the two got into a relationship.Riyaz later recorded a private video. She said that he blackmailed her with the video and asked her to convert and marry him.

She claimed that Riyaz is a member of Popular Front of India (PFI). She stated that she was taken to Saudi Arabia and attempts were also made to take her to Syria to the Islamic State territory. She said that she somehow managed to contact her parents and asked them to rescue her. 

The case will be taken up for consideration on November 13.

The girl is a native of Kerala, but was born and was brought up in Gujarat. 

The petition comes at a time when there is already heat over the Hadiya case and several other cases of alleged forced conversions in Kerala. The NIA has also claimed that there have been at least 90 cases of forced conversions in Kerala. 

24-year-old Hadiya has been under house arrest after her marriage to Sheffin Jahan was annulled last year by the High Court. Hadiya has been asked to be present before the court on November 27 for hearing in a petition filed by her husband. She had told the High Court that she had converted on her own will.