NEW DELHI: K.M. Ashokan, father of Hadiya, the Kerala woman who converted to Islam and got hitched a Muslim youth in 2015, joined the Bhartiya Jannta Party on Monday. Reports suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s general secretary B Gopalakrishnan gave KM Ashokan, the membership of the party.

News agency ANI tweeted the same, “KM Ashokan, father of Hadiya, 26-year-old Kerala woman who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man in 2016, has joined the BJP. Ashokan had approached Court alleging his daughter was a victim of 'love jihad'.”

“I was a Communist Party follower since childhood. But the party is playing dirty vote-bank politics with an eye on minority votes… Like many Hindus of Kerala, I am also torn between my belief and law. I personally believe customs and traditions should not come under the purview of courts. Let religious scholars and other decide on such issues,” Hindustan Times quoted Ashokan as saying in the report .

Worth mention here Hadiya who is 24 year old embraced Islam and married Shafin Jahan, a Muslim. Hadiya's father alleged that she was under duress converted by groups with links to terrorist outfits. Afterward, the Kerala High Court in May 2017 had cancelled out her marriage to Jahan and she was given in the custody of her father. This  order was set aside by the Supreme Court in March this year.

Notably Hadiya's parents have been alleging that her marriage was a case of 'love jihad' and she was converted to Islam forcibly while Hadiya has rebutted these claims.