Thiruvananthapuram: The long drawn out battle in the sensational Hadiya case-popularly known as the love jihad case-was a strain on all involved emotionally and financially. In a statement released on March 28, the Kerala state committee of the Popular Front of India (PFI) has given details of the amounts collected and spent on the legal battle of the decade.

According to the statement, the PFI spent a total of Rs 99,52,324 to fight the entire case in the favour of Hadiya’s husband Shefin Jahan, which spanned a total of 10 months.

After the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage to 25-year-old Hadiya, who was converted to Islam before her marriage, the 27-year-old Shefin approached the Supreme Court to restore his marital bond with his wife. On March 8, the apex court ruled in favour of Shefin and he was reunited with his wife.

The statement was released in response to the criticisms received by the Kerala’s unit of the PFI for its role in the Hadiya case by other Muslim organisations. Naseeruddin Elamaram, head of PFI’s Kerala division, said that they were even accused of trying to take advantage of the Hadiya case.

Rs 93,85,000 alone was paid as lawyer fees, Rs 5,17,324 was paid for travel expenses and Rs 50,000 was paid to the office of Haris Beeran for documentation related work, the statement revealed.

The organisation had collected a total of Rs 81,61,245 (of which Rs 80,40,405 was in the form of ‘direct bucket’ collections), the balance having been paid out of the organisation’s fund, Naseeruddin said and added that they had not done anything out of the ordinary, citing their announcements of their public collections for the Babri Masjid case, Madani case or the Gujarat riot period.