New Delhi (CNN) India's highest court has moved to strike down a ruling from a lower court that prevented a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam from living with her Muslim husband, in a landmark decision that upholds the right of inter-religious marriage.
The case had gained notoriety in India owing to allegations from the woman's family that she had been brainwashed by her husband as part of a broader Muslim plot, dubbed by right-wing Hindu nationalists as "love jihad."
Throughout the lengthy two-year court battle, 26-year-old Hadiya, who goes by one name only, consistently maintained that she acted on her own free will, despite claims from her father, Asokan K.M, that she was forced to convert to Islam by her husband.
"This was completely blown out of proportion," said Haris Beeran, the lawyer for the woman at the center of the case. "There was no element of 'love jihad' in this."
The Supreme Court's ruling, which was announced Monday, brings to an end her family's persistent attempts to nullify the marriage, with the three-judge panel stating that "the court has no right to annul the marriage between consenting adults."
Referring directly to Hadiya's battle with her parents, which began in the southern state of Kerala, the judges ruled that the wishes of her family "cannot be allowed to curtail her fundamental rights," adding that the freedom to choose a spouse and convert to another religion was both a constitutional and a human right.
"Intimacies of marriage, including the choices which individuals make on whether or not to marry and on whom to marry, lie outside the control of the state. Courts as upholders of constitutional freedoms must safeguard these freedoms," said the ruling.
