Joisna Mary Joseph is a woman capable of making her own decisions, observed the Kerala High Court, while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by her father Joseph who wanted her to return home. Joisna, a Christian woman in Kerala, married a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leader Shejin by exchanging garlands, and soon after, her father approached the court with a habeas corpus plea. A habeas corpus is a type of petition seeking the appearance of a particular person before the court.
On Tuesday, April 19, after hearing Joisna’s submissions, the Kerala High Court allowed Joisna and Shejin to stay together. Joisna, who was summoned by the court on Saturday, appeared before a division bench of Justices VG Arun and CS Sudha. The bench spoke directly to her, and she told the court that she had got married of her own free will and that there was no pressure on her. Joisna’s father Joseph had told the court that she had been abducted and that Shejin and Joisna were likely to leave the country.
However, the High Court held that it was up to her to decide whether she should go abroad or not, and that the court had limitations on its intervention when two people have decided they want to get married. The bench observed that it cannot be said that she is being kept in a forced custody.
“Let the couple who got married under the Special Marriage Act decide on what they should do next. Joisna is a woman capable of making her own decisions. She is 26 years old and has worked abroad. If two people decide to get married, the court cannot interfere in it,” the court said. “She has also stated that as of now she was not interested in interacting with her parents or family and will do so at a later stage," the court said.
Joisna had arrived from Saudi Arabia for her engagement with another man, but went with Shejin on her return. Shejin and Joisna exchanged garlands and filed for marriage registration on April 12. Her father had moved the High Court alleging that the police have failed to bring Joisna back to her maternal home. Her wedding grabbed media attention after a CPI(M) leader cited her marriage to claim ‘love jihad’ exists in the state, a claim he later withdrew. ‘Love-jihad’ is a conspiracy theory spread by right-wing extremists who claim that Muslim men deliberately marry Hindu women to convert them to Islam. Joisna has maintained that she married out of her own will.
The issue became a controversy when CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretariat member George M Thomas claimed that the party will take action against Shejin for “disrupting the communal harmony” between Muslims and Christians by eloping with Joisna.
“If they were in love, Shejin should have informed the party, but he did not do so and eloped with her, which might disturb the communal harmony,” he said. When the question of ‘love jihad’ was raised to him, he claimed that it “existed in party documents” and that “love jihad happens.” Later, speaking to Media One, George rescinded his remark and said that his statement had been misrepresented.
(With PTI inputs)