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Delhi Red Fort blast: Dr Shaheen’s ex-husband recalls her quiet life before radical turn
Once a mother and medical scholar, Dr Shaheen’s journey from calm clinician to accused radical has baffled investigators and her former husband alike.
What makes a woman, a mother of two, walk out of a marriage of 12 years, and not stay in touch? And what makes a doctor, deeply interested in her science, and who never discussed politics or religion, turn into a radical? These are questions investigators, and those who knew Dr Shaheen Shahid are asking themselves. Shahid was arrested in Lucknow on November 10, and believed to be part of a Pulwama-Faridabad module of terror operatives; the same day, a car driven by another doctor who was later revealed to be part of the same module blew up near Delhi’s Red Fort, killing 10 people, including the driver.
Shahid’s former hudband, Dr Zafar Hayat, an ophthalmologist at Kamla Pat Memorial (KPM) Hospital in Kanpur, said the two married in 2003 and have two children. “Shaheen often insisted that we should move to Australia or a European country, but I wanted to stay here,” he told reporters. “One day, she suddenly left us. We divorced in 2015, and she never returned . There was never any conflict between us.”
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Hayat said the two met after Shahid joined Kanpur’s GSVM Medical College. “The first few years of our marriage were good,” he said. “The only difference between us was in our thinking — she wanted to go abroad, while I wanted to live in India. Then, one day, she simply walked away.”
After their separation, he said,she did not stay in touch. “When she left, our children were very young — one had just started school. The elder child was seven and the younger one was four. She never tried to reach out afterwards,” he said adding that “ I am raising them.”
Shahid was picked up by the police from her residence in Lucknow.
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But Hayat is surprised at news of her radicalisation, and alleged involvement in a terror plot.
“Even during our marriage, I never felt she could be involved in anything wrong,” he added. “Shaheen was a calm person, never discussed religion or ideology, and was deeply interested in her studies.”
Dr Hayat said he has not yet spoken to his children about their mother’s arrest.
