Imrana case: Rape by Media
By Zafarul-Islam Khan
Published in the print edition of The Milli Gazette (16-31 July 2005)
New Delhi/ Muzaffarnagar/ Deoband: An alleged rape of a Muslim woman by her father-in-law in an obscure village has shaken India, pitting secularists, feminists, communists and extremist Hindutvites who demand the abolition of Muslim personal laws, against its 145 million Muslims.
Unusual media focus and the incompetence of the Indian Muslim religious and political leadership has only worsened the situation as was seen in the somewhat similar case of Gudiya a few months ago.
The media here continues to describe what happened as rape discarding the conventional adjective of alleged in such cases because no authority till now has proved it to be a case of rape.
A visit to Charthawal, where the incident allegedly took place offers a different picture. Imranas elderly mother-in-law, Zareefunnisa, squats on the ground of the tiny door-less courtyard. She repeats as her hands tremble and body shakes what she has told to umpteen visitors: it is a case of property dispute. Her husband was planning to sell the property to repay a loan taken some three years ago to spend on the marriage of his youngest daughter. Imrana and her husband who has not been on talking terms with his father for the last five years, were opposed to this as they have nowhere else to go. According to the old lady, Imranas husband Noor Ilahi used to threaten his father and tell him to leave the house.
Amid continued quarelling in the family this new development took place. The old woman denies that her husband could do such a thing. Dozens of immediate neighbours who assembled seeing us enter the house also agree with her and support Ali Mohammad, Imranas father-in-law. A neighbour called Muhammad Haneef, who is a Unani physisian, narrated in front of the crowd something which goes badly against Imranas character. He added that Ali Mohammad is a good man who toiled to earn his living.
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After a while we leave the house, consult each other what to do. We came back to offer the old lady some money to help her in her ordeal. Her trembling hands refuse to accept the money and she faints and falls on the ground. Her elder son and his wife lift her and place her on a bed. From Charthawal we went to the nearby village of Kukra where Imrana now lives in her ancestral home with her husband. At first we are told Imrana is not there, they do not speak to the media, why you have come... After some persuasion we find that Imrana is there inside the house. Then her husband plays truant. Soon he, too, is produced and sits in the veranda of the tiny house while Imrana sits inside a room with doors open. The leader of our delegation, Maulana Aqeel Al-Gharwi, offers her a general counsel on virtues of family life, forgiveness and solving problems in private... Without being asked Imrana bursts: I have been wronged (ziyadti hui hai). Maulana said I did not ask you about that, I am only talking in general terms and have come with the intention of helping the family come out of this ordeal. Now he asks Noor Ilahi, Imranas husband, who is squatting on the ground of the veranda: Your mother says nothing happened, do you believe her. He replies: Yes, I believe her. Maulana asks him again: Do you think your father can do such a thing? Noor Ilahi says: No, he cannot do such a thing. He says this in the presence of over a dozen people including two brothers of Imrana, one of them is visibly angry. Imrana denied that she had asked for any fatwa and said I will abide by Shariat. |
To read full story, click http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2005/20050714b.htm
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