Lucknow, June 25: Ronak Ali, eldest among the brood of five stunned his family and friends of Gunnor in Baghpat last Tuesday when he marries with his step-mom Beghum — both had been missing since June 13 — by his side. This time, as his one-day-old bride. With an eight year older step-mother Husna Beghum as his love interest, things had been never been smooth for Ronak Ali, 25, and an unskilled labour.
Obsessed by family, friends and relatives, the couple has gone into hiding again after the Islamic seminary of Darul Uloom, Deoband, has denounced the union as null and void. The terse edict delivered by the fatwa department on Wednesday, maintains that relationship with a mother — even if she is a step-mother — is sacrosanct. Therefore, the union will be deemed to be rape and the violators of the Shariat will evoke the stringent punishment as per the tenets of Islam.
Confirming the fatwa, deputy vice-chancellor of the seminary, Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said: “The episode was extremely unfortunate and shows perversion of worst order. Such a `nikah’ can never be permissible under the Shariat. `Maa, maa hi hoti hai, woh kabhi bibi nahin ban sakti’ (a mother will always remain a mother and can never turn into a wife) and therefore a man in such a relationship is just a vile rapist who ought to be dealt with strictly”.
Husna Beghum, originally from Bihar, came down to Baghpat six years ago after Ronak’s father Iqbal married her following the death of his wife Shakeela. They have a five-year-old son too. Beghum’s growing proximity with Ronak led to Iqbal’s break-up with his wife last year. Despite frequent showdowns with Iqbal, the relationship continued leading to elopement on June 13.
A livid Iqbal approached the Baghpal kotwali and lodged a complaint against the son and the wife. When the duo surfaced on last Tuesday and the father and son decided to thrash it out physically, the police intervened by taking the newly wed couple to the police station. There Ronak conceded that he had shared a relationship with Beghum over the past three years. Since both were consenting adults there was nothing they could do and they were let off next morning.
A similar incident was reported from Kangala in Muzaffarnagar district three years ago when a man had run away to Panipat with his step-mother. Deoband had declared the nikah shameful, sinful and illegal.
–Agencies