ALAPPUZHA: ‘Talaq’ can be said through WhatsApp to get a divorce now, it appears. In a curious case, a 33-year-old NRI who married a 24-year-old BDS student from Poochackal here allegedly divorced her after ten days of marriage by saying talaq thrice through WhatsApp from Dubai.
It was on February 2 last year that Jasmin Rashid, 45, the widowed mother of the girl, solemnized the marriage after giving away a dowry of Rs 10 lakh and 79 sovereigns of gold. Thereafter, the husband Ajmal Basheer from Chelattumangalam, Vaikom, Kottayam district, returned to Dubai where he works as a PR official.
When Ajmal Basheer did not get in touch with his wife, she tried to contact him through his sponsor. But he sent a flurry of abusive messages and on February 12 he sent her a message on WhatsApp saying ‘talaq, talaq, talaq.’ He then called her and said the same with God as a witness and mailed her. When she asked him the reason for it, he said: “One may be interested in apples, but will also want to eat mangoes,” the mother told DC.
For the last one-and-a-half years, they had sought justice from the authorities concerned, but in vain. The matter came to light when she complained to the women’s commission in Kottayam last week.
“He suffers from depression and can’t take up the responsibility of a wife. His parents told us he had a slight psychological problem. But he was unwilling to get treatment and he never admitted my daughter as his wife,” she said.
On August 1 last year, the girl was assaulted by her in-laws after she asked them to give back the money and valuables. “We rescued her with the help Vaikom police. And subsequently we registered a case with the police and the family court,” she said.
Mr Toni Sebastian, Vaikom Circle Inspector, said that no arrest warrant had been issued against the man so far. “But a case has been forwarded to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court which has to issue the warrant,” the CI said.
Mr K. Basheer, father of Ajmal, said that his son was made a mental patient by his wife who tried to discredit him before their relatives. “He suffers from inferiority complex. They’ve maligned us and we will proceed legally,” he said.
