At first glance, the special leave petition before the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Shafin Jahan (petitioner) and Asokan KM & others (respondents) may seem like a page out of a hackneyed screenplay.


Shafin Jahan, a young man from Kerala, knocked on the doors of the country's apex court seeking freedom and justice for his lawfully wedded wife. His petition claimed that she had been placed "under house arrest" by her father, Asokan KM, against her wishes and requested the judges to direct the concerned authorities to produce her before the Hon'ble Court.

In real life as well as on celluloid, we have all witnessed umpteen cases of young couples defying their parents' wishes to marry outside their community and irate fathers doing everything to stand in their way.

Such cases usually get resolved through the intervention of family and friends. Sometimes, the rift lasts for years before time eventually effects a reconciliation.

But nothing is that simple any more in the world we now live in. Not even the most creative Bollywood scriptwriter could have imbued this tale with so many layers of intrigue and suspense, interwoven it with so many strands so dear to the ruling saffron ideology, extended the cast of characters to so many public institutions and transformed one woman's story into a lurid melodrama about Islamic terror and "love jihad".  Read more