"Rationalist" lovers exchange sacred vows in the face of ostracism

The lovers arrived here from Kochi in the morning escorted by senior police officials, as ordered by the Kerala High Court yesterday.

DSP K Nadarajan said adequate protection was provided by the police till the couple reached the house they intended to stay in. However, the couple later left the house fearing the wrath of Muslim fundamentalists.

The Kerala High Court issued orders yesterday on a petition filed by Nazar, permitting the couple to marry at the sub-registrar’s office, Manjeri, and instructed the Commissioner of Police, Ernakulam, to escort them to Manjeri. The couple are to report back to the High Court on February25.

Thasnibanu, a final-year student of Unity College, Manjeri, was under house arrest because of her rationalist leanings. Abdul Nazar, 27, a provision merchant and a rationalist himself, had sought her release by filing a habeas corpus before the High Court on January 11, 1999, saying that the couple are in love.

When Thasnibanu was presented before the court by her parents on January 4, 1999, the court had asked her whether she would like to go with Nazar or with her parents. She had opted to stay in the S N V Sadanam hostel here. But when she was presented again before the court on January 11, she expressed her desire to marry Nazar under the Special Marriage Act, denounced by the families of the couple as anti-Muslim’.

The court had then directed her to continue to stay in the hostel and had asked Nazar to make arrangements for the marriage at the Manjeri sub-registrar’s office. Nazar was to meet Thasnibanu only to get the necessary signatures for the marriage application. She was to be presentedagain before the High Court after a month.

Nazar filed an affidavit on February 15 informing the court that notice had been given under Section 8 of the Special Marriage Act on January 12 that the order was published as required under Section 6 by the sub-registrar, Manjeri, and that no objections were received against the marriage. Nazar prayed that Thasnibanu be produced before the court and permitted to go with him to Manjeri for the marriage.

It is in response to this affidavit that the court issued permission for the marriage. Nazar was permitted to meet Thasnibanu at the women’s hostel here. Though the order was issued before 11 am, Nazar, who reached the hostel at 11 am, could not meet Thasnibanu as the advocate entrusted with the charge of Thasnibanu did not inform the hostel concerned till 1 pm. The couple were denied permission to meet each other until the advocate found it fit to inform the hostel.

Predictably, Thasnibanu is hurt. Through Nazar, she told this correspondent that she was veryupset about her stay in the hostel without permission to meet anyone.

Though Nazar’s advocate said the court had no objection to the media meeting Thasnibanu, Thasnibanu’s advocate refused to let her speak to anyone, except Nazar.

Why were the pair insistent that they would only court a special marriage? “We were willing to undergo nikah once. But Thasnibanu told me that Ashraf, a supreme council member of the National Democratic Party, compelled her people not to allow us to marry. We do not want to hurt our families but we have no other option now but to contract this marriage,” Nazar said.

Where will they stay after marriage? “Initially, we plan to stay with Jabbar and Sophia until we find some other arrangement,” Nazar said. Jabbar and Sophia are rationalists. The families of both Thasnibanu and Nazar are reluctant to accept the couple in view of the animosity from a section of the community as expressed through the Muslim media, and the possibility of ostracism.

“They have attacked usand trivialised our convictions. I am from a very orthodox Muslim family. My only fault is that I am a rationalist. I am the first person in the family to refute Islam and so they call me Ayyappan Nazar. I have no Hindu leanings whatsoever. I take pride in being called Ayyappan because Sahodaran Ayyappan had believed in one religion, propagating inter-communal marriages and inter-faith meals,” Nazar said. He has named his provision shop Dharmasree Merchants.’ “It has no Hindu connotation”, he said.