Lucknow: A phone call from her husband changed the life of Shabreen forever.
Holding her 11-month-old daughter in her arms, Shabreen (22) – who was given triple talaq over phone on March 23 – met chief minister Yogi Adityanath on April 3 to seek justice.
“My husband dropped me at my parents’ place in Lakhimpur Kheri about four months ago saying he was going out on a business trip. He runs an export and transport business. He told me he would take me back after finishing his work. I kept waiting for him until he called me up only to utter ‘talaq’ thrice,” said Shabreen.
She said the chief minister asked her not to worry and promised help to her.
Daughter of a vegetable seller, Shabreen got married to Haji Tusail, a resident of Sitapur, on April 16, 2015.
“My husband and his family would often torture me. They would ask for Rs 20 lakh as dowry. I never spoke about it to my parents but things got worse after I gave birth to a baby girl. They started forcing me to get money from my parents,” said Shabreen.
“Each time I called him in the last four months, he either said he was busy or disconnected my phone. I thought he was angry and would come back when he would be fine,” said Shabreen.
When her family members went to her husband to talk about the matter, they were shown the doors.
“They abused us and misbehaved with us. We even tried to contact the police but nothing happened. We later contacted the chief minister for help,” she said.
All attempts to contact Shabreen’s husband over the phone failed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been vocal against triple talaq for long. Before UP assembly elections, the party campaigners had been saying they were committed to ending triple talaq which was ruining the lives of Muslim women.
Former president of BJP’s Muslim Morcha Rubina Siddiqui said triple talaq was a taboo for women and Muslim women would surely join the campaign.
Meanwhile, women welfare minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi will meet triple talaq ‘victims’ on April 4.
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