In yet another tragic case of ‘Triple Talaq,’ a Muslim woman is left cheated by her husband after an Islamic wedding. This woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar had been through a lot ever since she got married to the man. The husband being an alcoholic did bizarre things with her, in his absence his elder brother made physical relations with her even after being happily married, his mother asked her to bear everything as this was common and whatnot. Her husband gave her triple talaq over the phone almost four years ago and got married to another woman. Now he is blackmailing the victim against some of her pictures and demanding money, it was then the victim reached out to the police for help. As of now, no accused have been arrested, the victim feels cheated not only by her in-laws and family but by the legal system as well.
We bring to you the shocking details made in an exclusive telephonic interview by the victim with Organiser.
What says the FIR?
Before moving ahead with the call, readers should know that the victim, Nasreen Bano is a native of the Sikandarpur area of Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. As per the First Information Report (FIR number: 189/2023, registered at the Mirapur police station on September 7, 2023), she is a victim of triple talaq, sexual assault and mental torture at her in-laws house.
Nasreen told the police that, she was married to Shahid, a native of the civil lines area in Muzaffarnagar in 2016. After married she found that Shahid is an alcoholic and used to beat her up on a regular basis. After the marriage, Shahid made videos of their sexual activities. He used to bring his friends and ask Nasreen to sleep with them, when she refused he used to beat her up. He worked in Saudi Arabia and hence left Muzaffarnagar after a few months. As he left, his elder brother, who was already married, started making forced physical relations with the victim. When she told this to her mother-in-law and husband they did nothing to stop him. Fed up with this the victim moved to her parent’s house. Shahdi gave her triple talaq, almost four years ago on call. Now, he called the victim and asked for Rs 5 lakh against the videos and the clips he had of the victim. On refusing he shared the clips with their relatives. The victim had no place to go, hence she lodged a complaint against the culprits.
She named her husband Shahid, brother-in-law Shanu, Shekhan and Mehboob with mother-in-law Nafeesa as accused in the FIR. They all have been booked under IPC sections 354d (sextortion), 504 (intentionally insult), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and sections 3 and 4 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, commonly called as Triple Talaq Law (TTL).
What the victim told Organiser?
This correspondent called Nasreen on September 13. She shared her plight with Organiser and said, “I want justice, the accused should be punished who is still living a lavishing life in Saudi Arabia”. Following are the excerpts from the conversation. Some pictures shared by Nasreen are attacked here:
“I got married to Shahid, who comes from a well-to-do family in 2016. I was happy and so were my family. I have two brothers and two sisters, my father works as a labourer and he has struggled a lot in raising us. After marriage, unlike other women, my life turned upside down. Shahid was not as presented by his family, ‘A decent man earning and living in Saudi Arabia’. He used to drink alcohol, beat me up, I thought he was doing it under the influence of alcohol but he was weird,” said Nasreen.
She added, “He recorded our sexual intercourse on the mobile saying he had to leave for Saudi soon. He had unnatural sex with me, forcefully saying he would decide what needed to be done and not her. One day he brought his friends over, they had alcohol and then he asked me to entertain his friends, I was shocked but he locked me with them in a room, I begged and cried but to no avail, they molested me, even my mother-in-law did not come for rescue”.
When asked, she had mentioned about her brother-in-law in the FIR. She said, “Yes, he was a man with loose character. From day one, he had bad eyes on me. When Shahid left for Saudi, he gained full access to the top floor, where I lived. He used to work there, stay there and call all his employees there only. When I raised an objection, he abused me. One day, he barged into my room, I asked him what does he want so he started undressing himself, soon he grabbed me into his arms and then raped me. I cried for help but he did not stop,” said Nasreen.
When she told about this to her mother-in-law, she said, “This will go on, things like this happen and if you will ever tell this to anyone, you will have to face the consequences”.
Things repeated, nights like those were common, and they used to beat her on minute differences. She had to face a lot as she did not bring much Mehar in her Nikah. She said, “Shanu was already married and his wife lived in the same house where he raped me”.
She told this to Shahid on call, and he said, he could not believe her and that his brother would never do that. Shahid was a cloth merchant in Saudi and his family was involved in the contractor business.
Nasreen said, “I returned to my parent’s house but could not tell them what Shahid and family did to me, I told them they beat me, but how could I share, what Shanu did to me. My mother said, these incidents will come and go, I will have to adjust and they sent me back,”
“I had no choice but to stay there and bear everything. But there is a limit to everything and when they crossed the limit, I left the house. My mother-in-law managed to manipulate my husband around my character and he was convinced. One day he called me and gave me triple talaq. In Muslims, a woman cannot go to her in-law’s place after triple talaq, without Halala. So, for the past four years, I have been living with my parents and brothers. Without having divorced legally, Shahid had married another woman,” said Nasreen.
Why led to the FIR now? asked this correspondent.
Nasreen said, “I had told you about the video he had made with me. When he left for Saudi, he used to do video calls and asked me to do things like undressing on camera etc. I have done this multiple times, as he was my husband and following his orders was my job. Shockingly, Shahid had been recording those video calls and he has a collection of such videos”.
After learning about his new marriage, Nasreen’s family went to Shahid’s house and demanded a legal divorce and settlement money. After this, Shahid called Nasreen and said, if she and her family will not stop, he will make those videos and clips viral on social media. He also demanded a sum of Rs 5 lakh from the victim and family, instead of going through a divorce.
Nasreen said, “When we failed to provide him money, he shared my videos with relatives, my brothers, sisters and everywhere.”
The mothers of Nasreen and Shahid are blood sisters, so Nasreen got married to the son of her Maasi. When she could not send her money, he shared her nude videos with her Mama, Mama’s children and everywhere. She is ashamed of getting out of her house after what he did to her.
Nasreen says, “Which husband will do this to his wife, even if I am his ex-wife, how could he do this to me. He made me good for nothing. People laugh at me, my brother scolded me and even asked me to get out of their house as they were ashamed of me. Where will I go Mam,” she added.
The police teams are investigating, as the talaq was done almost four years ago and the accused lives in Saudi Arabia, it is difficult for them to nab the culprit.
The Modi-led NDA government introduced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 in Lok Sabha on June 21, 2019. After being passed by both houses of the parliament, the bill became a law that criminalised triple talaq. Even after having a dedicated law in place, there are cases where victims strive for justice. They have a law to get their case registered but registering a case does not mean arrest or conviction of the culprits. The first and foremost demand is that the victims need to prove that the accused gave them talaq, which seems an impossible thing to do. Cases like these are reported in large numbers but the accused go unpunished most of the time.
