KOCHI: The Muslim Ekopana Samithi has called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Ernakulam district on Tuesday in protest against the alleged police lathicharge on its activists during a march to the High Court on Monday.
The activists took out the protest march following the High Court order nullifying the marriage of a woman who had converted to Islam. The High Court had last week declared null and void the marriage of Hadiya, who converted to Islam, and got married to Shafin Jahan in December 2006.
A Division Bench of the court nullified the marriage based on a habeas corpus petition filed by the woman’s father, a native of Vaikom.
Meanwhile, a protest march by the Muslim Ekopana Samiti workers to the High Court was stopped by the police near St Albert’s College.
The irate activists shouted slogans there for over half-an-hour and laid siege to the Banerji Road.
A few workers broke the police barricade and moved forward. Following this, the police resorted to lathicharge and used water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.