Shayara’s long journey to justice
NEW DELHI/KASHIPUR: The last two years have been tumultuous for Shayara Bano.
The 35-year-old Muslim woman from a remote hamlet in Uttarakhand was divorced in a shock letter by her husband in 2015 that contained the letter “talaq” thrice.
Since then, she has battled threats from her community, attacks by clerics and the glare of national media to challenge the controversial practice of “instant” triple talaq in the Supreme Court.
Her husband took away Bano’s two children, and she was forced to leave her hometown because of mounting pressure. But on Tuesday, as India’s top court struck down the controversial custom, she smiled. “My 11-year-old daughter will not have to face such regressive practices when she grows up. No Muslim women will have to go through the harassment that I suffered,” Shayara Bano told HT. “It is a historic day for Muslim women.”
Bano, who holds a masters degree in Sociology, was home in Uttarakhand in October 2015 when her husband Rizwan Ahmed, who lived in Allahabad, divorced her. A distraught Bano rushed to the local cleric, but was told that the divorce was valid. Within days, Ahmed took away their two children -- Irfan (13) and Muskan (11). She had a nervous breakdown and had to be treated for depression.
“My life turned upside down in a minute. Initially my family tried to reach out but my husband’s family cut us out. He did not let me meet the children,” she told HT. It was then that she decided to approach the judiciary. She married Ahmed in 2002 but had a rocky relationship: She describes several dowry threats and forced abortions that turned her into a
“lump of flesh”.
People in her home village of Kashipur have been effusive in their praise of the gutsy fighter. M Khalil Ahmed, who is a Hafiz and the Pesh Imam of the depot mosque where Shayara’s family goes for prayers, said: “Shayara suffered horrendous torture at the hands of her husband and we support her fight for justice. is based on humanity. We are happy justice has been delivered to her and crores others like her.”
She has also taken up admission this August in Moradabad University to complete her MBA and looks forward to being economically independent.