New Delhi, Mar. 8 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Kerala High Court’s order annulling the marriage of Hadiya, the 25-year-old who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man and sparked allegations of a so-called “love-jihad”.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, however, said that the National Investigation Agency may continue its investigation in the matter.

In August last year, the apex court had asked the NIA to probe the case of Hadiya’s conversion and marriage to a Muslim after the agency claimed a “pattern” was emerging in Kerala, of Muslim men marrying Hindu girls to convert them, and then sending them off to the Islamic State movement in West Asia.

Shafin Jahan, Hadiya's husband, had challenged a Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage with her and sending Hadiya to her parents' custody.

On November 27 last year, the apex court had freed Hadiya from her parents' custody and sent her to college to pursue her studies, even as she had pleaded that she should be allowed to go with her husband.

In its May judgment, the high court had annulled the marriage, terming it as an instance of 'love jihad', following which Jahan had approached the apex court.