A Muslim woman from Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich alleged her husband gave 'triple talaq' enraged by her praise for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led governments in state and Centre.
Mariam Shareef of Bahraich, who married one Arshad from Ayodhya in December last year, alleged her husband was so irked at her praise for development work done in Ayodhya by the prime minister and the chief minister, that he first sent her back to her parents’ house and then divorced her. He also flung a pan of hot daal (lentils) on her face.
Mariam said that as she was from a small town, she was very impressed with how Ayodhya looked when her husband took her on a tour of the city. “I said that Yogi ji and Modi ji had done a wonderful job. My husband was enraged and my in-laws did not like it either. They abused me and beat me up”, she said.
This happened in the end of July, after which Arshad sent Mariam back to her parents’ house. Relatives from both sides intervened and Arshad brought Mariam back to Ayodhya in the first week of August. Although Mariam said she had been unable to file a police complaint in Bahraich, she does claim that a compromise between the couple was reached in front of the police.
“On August 5, he began abusing the CM and the PM. And then he blurted out talaq three times. When I shouted in shock, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law intervened to hit me while my husband attempted to strangulate me. He then flung a vessel containing hot daal on me”, she said.
Mariam added that she tried to file a complaint with the police, but unsuccessful, she filed a complaint online, on the Integrated Grievance Redressal Services portal. She also wrote to the chief minister Yogi Adityanath on August 18.
Since word got out and the local media picked up the story, Mariam said that her husband’s relatives were forcing her to undergo a nikah halala. This is a practice where a divorced Muslim woman marries another man, who then divorces her so that she can re-marry her first husband. “They (husband’s relatives) are offering me money, but I want justice”, she said.