Hyderabad: In the third alleged case of instant triple talaq after the practice was banned by Parliament, the police booked a vegetable vendor for illegally divorcing his wife for delivering a daughter.
The case was booked under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act based on the complaint of his wife Meraj Begum, a resident of old Safilguda.
She said she had married Anwar Dastagir of Dabeerpura in 2011. She alleged that she was being harassed since her marriage, and this intensified after the birth of their daughter three years ago.
Meraj Begum said her mother-in-law refused to allow the couple to live with her, and they moved to a house nearby. She alleged that the mother-in-law was pressurising her husband Dastagir to divorce her and marry again.
She alleged that her first child had died during delivery due to the negligence of her in-laws. She was admitted to a hospital where there was no proper treatment, she alleged.
Under the pressure of his family, her husband allegedly started torturing her and asked her to leave his home. When she informed her parents of the situation, they tried to convince him to desist, but he threatened to harm his wife They pacified him, and the couple continued to live together.
When she got pregnant again and delivered a girl child, Meraj Begum said the expenses were borne by her parents. After her daughter’s birth, her in-laws started harassing her even more and demanding additional dowry. Dastagir used to beat her saying he wanted a son. He also wanted to re-marry, she said.
The couple was counselled at the Charminar women’s police station and also at the Bharosa Centre. Meraj Begum alleged that as they came out of the counselling session, Dastagir allegedly pronounced talaq thrice in the presence of her family members.
She said a complaint was lodged with the women’s police station on November 14 and the case was registered against Dastagir and his family members on November 16 under the Domestic Violence Act and Muslim Women’s Rights Act. Dastagir has denied these allegations. He has given a written statement to the Bharosa Centre counsellor that he did not want to live with his wife as she was having an extra-marital affair.
He claimed he had discussed the matter with her parents and said that she could give him khula — a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband in Islam.
For this, they demanded `10 lakh and he was ready to pay `2 lakh, he claimed. Dastagir, who also serves as a muezzin in a nearby mosque, said, “We are also against triple talaq.”
He claimed he wanted to resolve the issue amicably, but his wife had levelled baseless allegations against him.
