Yogi slammed after woman burnt alive over talaq plaint

Lucknow: A young woman in Uttar Pradesh was burnt alive in front of her five-year-old daughter after she complained to the police that her husband has divorced her by uttering “talaq” thrice.

Major opposition parties have launched a scathing attack on the Yogi Adityanath government for its failure to prevent crimes against women ever since The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, was enacted banning triple talaq.

“The Modi government brought in triple talaq law but the Yogi government is not bothered about ensuring its proper implementation. 

“Women are being beaten and killed because of triple talaq and the police are remaining mute spectator,” said Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav while referring to the killing of a 22-year-old woman in Shravasti.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Raj Babbar speaking to IANS on phone said that the murder of the young woman was an example of how the triple talaq law has been having a “disastrous impact” on women. 

“When the woman went to complain to the police that her husband had given her triple talaq over phone, she was sent back and later burnt alive. Who is responsible for this?” he asked.

The 22-year-old woman was allegedly burnt alive by her husband and in-laws in front of her five-year-old daughter at Gadra village of Shravasti district after she lodged the complaint.

The incident took place in Bhingapur area late on Friday. The victim’s father, Ramzan Khan, has accused that his son-in-law, Nafees, 26, who works in Mumbai, had given “triple talaq” to his daughter Sayeeda over phone on August 6.

“Sayeeda went to lodge a complaint, but police did not register a case and sent her home telling her to let her husband return from Mumbai. When Nafees arrived on August 15, police summoned the couple. 

They talked to them and told Sayeeda to stay with Nafees,” the victim’s father said in his complaint.

Sayeeda’s daughter Fatima told police: “On Friday noon, my father returned after offering namaaz and told mother to go away since he had given her talaq. Then they got into an argument.

“My grandfather Azizullah, grandmother Haseena, and aunts Gudiya and Nadira also were there. Father held my mother by her hair and thrashed her, my aunts Nadira and Gudiya poured kerosene and grandma and grandpa lit the matchstick.”

Sayeeda’s brother Rafique took the five-year-old to police where she narrated the whole incident. 

A police team was dispatched and Sayeeda’s body was sent for autopsy.

The First Information Report was filed on Saturday.

“The accused have not yet been arrested. I will knock on the doors of the Supreme Court to ensure justice for my sister,” said Rafique.

“An FIR has been registered against Nafees and his family members on charges of dowry harassment, murder, and dowry prohibition act. The allegations of the victim’s father about triple talaq will be probed,” Shravasti Superintendent of Police Ashish Srivastava said. 

“It will be probed why a case was not registered if the victim had approached police on August 6,” Srivastava said.