UP’s new Imrana is losing battle against her rapist father-in-law

Mangalore Today News Network

Lucknow, September 8, 2014:  A 28-year-old woman from Muzaffarnagar, who had approached the local administration on Thursday to arrest her father-in-law for repeatedly raping her at gunpoint, appears to be losing her battle.

Her request, submitted to District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, to allow her to abort her seven-month pregnancy, also remains unheard. Her case is similar to Imrana’s who was asked to accept her rapist father-in-law as her husband in 2005.

"My worst fear is coming true. While the district magistrate has received my application, the police have not yet registered any case against my father-in-law," the victim told mediapersons in Muzaffarnagar. "On the other hand, my husband says he will give me talaq," she said, adding that her husband, who has been working in Dubai since 2012, does not believe her and has accused her of making false allegations against his father.

Avoiding specific questions related to the rape case, Sharma said, "I have forwarded her application to the chief medical officer for his opinion on this issue.

All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (ALMWPLB) president Shaista Ambar has alleged that the government and clerics are anti-women and are trying to harass the victim. "It is a case of rape in which the father-in-law should be arrested and killed in full public view. The AIMPLB should be dissolved because it has failed to provide justice to women," Ambar said in anger.

"I heard some cleric saying that the husband of the victim would now be treated as her son because she has had a relationship with her father-in-law.

They are misinterpreting the Sharia (law). As per the Islamic law, a nikah solemnises [the relationship of a couple] when a man and woman accept each other as husband and wife before a Qazi. But these clerics are trying to say that anybody can make a woman his wife by raping her. This is not only ridiculous but also a criminal act of supporting a rapist," she added.

Maulana Mohammad Nazar of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, however, is against the abortion. "The woman cannot be allowed to abort the baby as it’s older than four months. She has to give birth to the baby, who would be considered the son of her father-in-law who is now her husband."

Courtesy: Indiatoday