Indian “Tripple Talaq” Victim Seek Centre’s Help to get Divorce Papers from the US
NEW DELHI, Dec 10: “Tripple Talaq” among Muslims may be banned in India but it does not matter for a Somalia national who made his Indian wife running from pillar to post after pronouncing “Talaq” over mobile phone thrice from Boston in the United States.
The 23-year old woman Saba Fatima, a resident of Hyderabad, has now approached the external affairs minister S Jaishankar to help her get official divorce papers from her 40-year old husband Abdi Wali Ahmed, claimed to be working as a driver in Boston, after she failed to reach him or any of her in-laws who have blocked her mobile number.
According to Saba Fatima, She got married to Ahmed on January 25, 2015, when he was studying engineering in Hyderabad, while his family lived in Abu Dhabi. “A relative of ours brought the alliance stating that he was a good boy and I would have a bright future if I married him. Ours is a very poor family and I was a high school dropout. I thought my father would not have brought a better match for me and hence, I agreed for the marriage,” she said.
The Nikah was performed by a Qazi as per Islamic laws and registered with Telangana Wakf Board. She said a week after the wedding reception, Ahmed left for his parents’ place and later he used to come to Hyderabad almost once in every six months and they stayed together in rented houses in different localities in the city.
The last time Ahmed visited Fatima was in February 2020 and later, and from Hyderabad he went to visit his mother in Dubai where she was held up because of the Corona lockdown.
“Later, he went to Boston where he got a job as a driver. He used to be in touch with me even from the US. He told me he had got some other job there and was earning around Rs 4 lakh a month. He also sent me money for my daily needs,” Fatima said.
On October 7, Ahmed called Fatima’s father, Mohd Fareed, stating that he was divorcing her. “He asked my father to switch-on the speaker of the mobile and pronounced triple talaq, without any reason. I called him up again and had an argument, but he did not reveal why he was divorcing me,” she said. Later, Ahmed blocked her and her family members’ mobile numbers and did not take any calls. Fatima tried to contact her mother-in-law in Dubai and sister-in-law who stayed in London. “Though they assured me of justice initially, they, too, blocked my number later and could not be reached,” she said.
In a letter to Jaishankar seeking the government’s help, she said she wanted to get an official divorce from Ahmed without which she could not re-marry in India. She wanted the Indian embassy in the US to get in touch with Ahmed and get her the divorce papers.
“I request you to interfere in this matter and help me in getting justice. I cannot remarry without any authentic divorce papers,” Fatima said in her letter.
Incidentally, Parliament had passed Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019, in August, last year, which criminalised instant triple talaq among Muslims.
(Manas Dasgupta)
