Indian widow vows to seek punishment for Pak in-laws

Asha Patil said she will return home only after local authorities take action against her Pak in-laws who harassed her after her husband's death.

Indian national Asha Patil, who has alleged she was harassed by her Pakistani husband's family following his sudden death earlier this month, has vowed to return home only after local authorities take action against her in-laws.

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Asha's marriage to Lahore-based stockbroker Mumtaz Khalid came to the limelight because the couple had a protracted courtship of six years after meeting in an Internet chat-room in 2000. They married on the web in 2006 and Asha converted to Islam and took the name Ayesha Khalid before coming to Pakistan a year later.

"I want to go back home but I also want justice against the persons who harassed me after my husband died on June 12 of a heart attack," Ayesha, 26, told PTI on phone from Chistiya village in Pakistan's Punjab province where she has been given shelter by a cleric.

"I don't want any money or property. I just want action to be taken against those who harassed, tortured and detained me. But the case should not drag on for years, forcing me to stay in Pakistan for a long time," said the woman, who insisted her name was now Ayesha Khalid and that is how she should be referred to.

Ayesha, who is two months' pregnant, has registered a FIR against her in-laws with police in Hasilpur, the native village of her husband in southern Punjab. In the FIR, she has accused her in-laws of harassing and torturing her.

Ayesha also contacted officials of the Indian High Commission today to take up her case with them. Despite moving to Pakistan, she retained her Indian nationality and has periodically renewed her visa.