Triple talaq victims narrate ordeal
CM Yogi promises justice and support to victims
LUCKNOW : Victims of instant triple talaq recounted their nightmare in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath at a function that the Uttar Pradesh government organised to mark the birth anniversary of former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, in Lucknow on Wednesday. The chief minister assured complete support to the victims and said ‘justice would be done’.
Over 200 Muslim women, including triple talaq victims from different parts of the state, participated in the function.
One of the participants, Shumaila Javed, an international netball player, said she had braved the odds in the sporting arena but found triple talaq the most challenging facet of her life.
She said she hadn’t lost any game and played seven nationals, four all-India matches and numerous district and state level championships.
“I can’t imagine feeling so hopeless before, despite being a successful sportsperson. I am grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath ji for standing by me and many others who has fallen victim to triple talaaq,” said the sportswoman, who hails from Amroha district of UP.
“Being a sportsperson I used to face all the odds sportingly, be it in life or in the game of netball. I tried to fight triple talaq as well, but I failed miserably as the entire system stood against me and I was left all alone,” she said.
Sumaila said she got married on February 9, 2014 to Mohammed Farooq Abbasi, a resident of Amethi town.
“My life changed soon after. My husband and in-laws started torturing me for dowry. I didn’t say anything to my parents as I didn’t want to trouble them. I kept mum, thinking that things would change one day. But nothing changed,” she recollected.
She said when she became pregnant, she “thought my pregnancy would change the circumstances and it did happen until one day my husband got an ultrasound test done to find out the sex of the foetus,” she added.
Things got worse when he came to know that the foetus was female.
“On April 8, 2016, he gave me talaq and shoved me out of the house. I had to move in with my parents in Amroha where I gave birth to a girl child,” she added.
Refusing to let her husband go scot-free, she decided to fight back and ran from pillar to post but was not allowed to meet officers, she said.
“I also wrote to the PM, demanding action against my husband, who re-married after dumping me,” she said.
She sought action against her husband to which chief minister Yogi Adityanath assured complete support and said ‘justice would be done’.
He also assured her of a government job. Besides, he announced various schemes and programmes for triple talaq victims and directed the departments to chalk out a concrete plan to rehabilitate them at the earliest.
Ruhi Fatima, another triple talaq victim, narrated her ordeal before the CM at the function.
The Agra resident, who did MSc and is now pursuing a career in physiotherapy, said she got married to a family in Bengaluru.
“I married Nasir Ghani Khan on May 20, 2014 and we settled down in Bangalore. Soon after, my in-laws began to torture me for not fulfilling their demands,” she recollected. Soon, her husband gave her triple talaq and threw her out of the house.
“I was three months’ pregnant then. I approached the police station where the police officer asked for Rs 2 lakh bribe. When I failed to pay the amount, the police officer showed the investigation to be in favour of my husband. I don’t have any money, I have a five-year-old daughter and I am unable to send her to school. I needed help,” she appealed to the chief minister during the programme.
She, along with other triple talaq victims, demanded action against their husbands and a job, which they said would help them in their rehabilitation.