With the Union Government bringing a new law to protect the rights of Muslim women against instant triple talaq, a bizarre case has come to light in Jaunpur where a woman was found to be living with her third spouse without entering into wedlock and without legally leaving her first two husbands.
This was exposed when the woman's family lodged a report of dowry harassment and murder against her first husband.
Interestingly, the woman managed to go scot free, claiming that she was an adult and was free "to live with a man of her choice".
As per reports, Kallu Hashmi of Mai hamlet of Kerakat (Jaunpur) married his 20-year-old daughter Khushbu with Naeem Hashmi in Badlapur locality of Jaunpur in 2017. A few months after the marriage, Khushbu returned to her parents and did not go back to her husband's house.
In the meantime, Khushbu received a missed call to which she rang back and subsequently fell in love with the caller, Naushad, of Paina hamlet of Deoria then working at Ghaziabad. Later, the woman left her parents' house without informing anyone and went to live with Naushad at Ghaziabad.
When Khushbu did not return, her husband contacted the in-laws and after getting no satisfactory reply, he lodged a report with Badlapur police station in 2018 charging the in-laws of not sending back his wife.
However, this invited trouble for Naeem and his family. Khushbu's father lodged a report in February this year, accusing Naeem and his family of harassing Khushbu for dowry and
killing and dumping her in an unknown place to conceal the crime.
After quizzing Naeem and speaking to the neighbours, the police came to the conclusion that Khushbu did not return to her husband. They later started electronic surveillance and learnt that she was living with Naushad in Ghaziabad. A police team raided Naushad's house in Ghaziabad last Monday. However, they were shocked when Naushad revealed that Khushbu developed an affair with a third youth Bharat of Meerut and she had left to live with him in Meerut.
The police team rushed to Meerut and traced Bharat's house and raided it to finally recover Kushbu. She was brought to Jaunpur but she opposed the police action claiming that she was an adult and was free to live with anyone. Her statement would be recorded before a magistrate.
The police also sent a report to the court to close the investigation into the fake case of dowry harassment and murder of Khushbu as registered by her father.
Meanwhile in Balrampur, a 32-year-old woman was strangulated to death by her husband on Tuesday.
Haqiqul took his wife Razia to an agricultural field in Kohla village in Harriya police station area and killed her. After the body was recovered, the woman's father lodged an FIR.
A probe is underway.