Amid nationwide debate on ‘triple talaq’, two young Muslim women from Satna city have come out with instances of husbands unilaterally divorcing them in uncommon ways: one while she was asleep; the other over phone.
Both residents of Nazirabad locality of the district headquarters, Shabana Nisha (21) and Khushboo Begum (25) spoke up about their marital ordeal and the present misery.
Shabana said she received talaq from her husband while she was sleeping in her in-laws’ house. “It was in 2013 and was my second marriage,” she told HT, saying the man, Saleem Saudagar, belonged to Banda district of Uttar Pradesh. “I came to know about the triple talaq from my sister-in-law when I woke up.”
She pleaded to him to reconsider the matter, arguing the three-time phrase to a woman in sleep carried no validity. “But he paid no heed.”
Shabana’s first husband, who she married in 2011 in Satna, divorced without her consent. She now works at a local cottage industry, earning Rs 10 a day.
Khushboo, who has a three-year-old son, said she heard her husband utter ‘talaq’ thrice over mobile phone earlier this year when she was in her mother’s house in Satna. “I was married in 2007 and used to live with my husband in Allahabad,” she said. “Three years ago, on getting pregnant, I came to Satna, where I have been living since. This January, my husband called me up to say ‘talaq’ thrice over phone.”
{{/usCountry}}Khushboo, who has a three-year-old son, said she heard her husband utter ‘talaq’ thrice over mobile phone earlier this year when she was in her mother’s house in Satna. “I was married in 2007 and used to live with my husband in Allahabad,” she said. “Three years ago, on getting pregnant, I came to Satna, where I have been living since. This January, my husband called me up to say ‘talaq’ thrice over phone.”
{{/usCountry}}The woman said her husband and in-laws used to abuse and beat her, demanding dowry. “Just before divorcing, my husband told me I could enter his house if only I brought ` 2 lakh as dowry. When I said I was too poor to meet that demand, he divorced me over phone,” she revealed.
The Madhya Pradesh Muslim Vikas Parishad termed the incidents “unfortunate”. Mohammad Mahir, chairman of the organization, said one-sided talaqs went against the Quran. “Men are misusing the law,” he added.