Accused Ali Sher and the victim Muskan
The condition of women in Muslim society has largely remained vulnerable. Be it the matter of Triple Talaq, Halala, polygamy and inheritance of property. It always requires the intervention of the government, for instance, the Muslim Marriage Act of 2019 which was introduced to prohibit the ‘Triple Talaq’.
This case from the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh is a shocker in many ways. A nine months pregnant Muslim woman reached the office of the Superintendent of Police (SSP) on March 16 with a complaint letter against her husband and in-laws. She demanded action against them and said, ‘I will convert to Hinduism leaving Islam’ if no action is taken against her husband.
The woman told Organiser Weekly that her husband takes money from his friends and forces her to sleep with them. He has done this number of times.
Here’s why she is willing to leave Islam and became a Hindu
In a telephonic interview with Organiser Weekly on March 18, the victim Muskan Ansari told she was married to Ali Sher who also belongs to the Ansari caste on March 4, 2018. She has a daughter from this marriage.
Ansari in the Muslim community belongs to the Julaha caste, a caste of weavers. They were the first tribe in Arabia to accept Islam.
Her husband and his family started torturing her soon after the ‘Nikah’. First, it was about the household chores, then it turned to her behaviour towards her in-laws and later they started questioning her character as well.
Muskan said she moved to the village Behda Sadat with her in–laws family after the ‘Nikah’. Although she was the wife of Ali Sher but her father-in-law Israel, brother-in-law’s Farman (devar) and Gulsher (Jeth) all used to make physical relationships with her. They all used to rape her against her wishes and when she complained about the same with her husband he said, she must keep all of them happy.
Even her mother-in-law Zareena and sister-in-law Shakira would ask her to do what her husband is asking her to. They never took her side or considered her a human.
A little later her husband decided to move to a rented place in Muzaffarnagar. She thought her life would be much better but the worst happened.
By then her daughter was born and she thought this will change her husband’s behaviour towards her. Her husband had a medicine shop and he was an alcoholic since always. After they moved to the new place he started taking drugs (injection, as per the victim).
His friends would come and forcefully rape her. Instead of protecting her from them, he would take money. He treated her as a prostitute. Till December 2023, he made her sleep with more than nine men. She doesn’t even know their names.
Muskan said, he would keep a knife on her daughter’s neck and would try to kill her which is why she had to do this. everytime his friends would arrive he will take away her daughter saying if she will refuse, he will kill her, added the victim.
She says, her father runs a small tiffin business and they are eleven brothers and sisters. Out of them, four of her brother work as labourers in Mumbai. Four of her sisters are married while two are still at home.
She bear all her husband’s torture because she did not want to be a burden on her father.
Her father-in-law and brother-in-law raped her when she was seven months pregnant with her daughter. Her husband also had unnatural sex with her. He would say, she was his wife and should follow everything he asks her to.
After she moved to her father’s house in December, her husband is saying that he will kill her. They have attacked her twice on her way to the police station, told the victim. She is pregnant again and wants justice.
She says, her husband threatened her with instant ‘Triple Talaq’ as well. She is currently living in Afzalgarh with her parents.
She says she does not wish to go back to her husband as he deserves to be behind bars. If not provided justice she will leave Islam and become a Hindu, said the victim.
The accused was booked under mere dowry law only even after she told the police that they raped her
A First Information Report (number–83/2023) was registered at the Mahila Police station of the Muzaffar Nagar district on March 16. The complaint mentions that the accused used to torture her for dowry.
As per the complaint, all the accused namely Alisher, Israel, Guylsher, Farman, Zareena and Shakira have been booked under IPC sections 498-A (harassment), 323 (causing hurt), 504 (intentionally insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Act.
The Muzaffar Nagar police were not taking the victim’s complaint and then she moved to the SP office and also sent a copy of the Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath with the National Commission for Women. She is running from post to pillar since February 1.
Now that the FIR is lodged, she wants action to be taken against the perpetrators. She says, Hindu women lead a better life, and there is no scope for second marriage or triple talaq. She said to the media that, if not taken action against her husband she will leave Islam and become a Hindu.
Her picture in front of the SP office in a full-body veil is making rounds on the internet.
This correspondent called up the Mahila Police station on March 18 and the Investigating Officer Renu Saxena said, they have taken the complaint and dedicated actions will be taken against the accused and they will soon be arrested by the police.
The correspondent asked Muskan why she did not mention the repeated rapes in her complaint she says, ‘My complaint is not registered on my statement. I told the police about what Ali Sher and his family did to me but they made it a case of dowry only’.
She added further that the police did record her statement on camera at the police station in which she told them everything but for the FIR they considered her letter from the family court which she submitted earlier. She wants the accused to be booked under charges of rape.
The Investigating Officer did not answer the questions pertaining to the change of the complainant’s statement in the FIR.
‘For now, I want maintenance for my children and alimony on separation. I will not live with that monster against’ added Muskan.
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