A 23-year-old woman from Hyderabad appealed to Union Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday for help in obtaining an official divorce from her 40-year-old husband, who delivered triple talaq by phone from the United States two months ago. .
In her letter to S. Jaishankar, Saba Fatima, a resident of Chandrayangutta in the old city, requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs order the Indian embassy in the United States to speak with her husband, Abdi Wali Ahmed, a Somali national, that currently working as a driver in Boston, USA, and resolve the divorce issue as soon as possible.
“I ask you to interfere in this matter and help me get justice. I cannot remarry without authentic divorce papers, ”Fatima said in her letter.
She married Ahmed on January 25, 2015, when he was studying engineering in Hyderabad, while his family lived in Abu Dhabi. “A relative of ours brought the wedding ring saying that he was a good boy and that I would have a bright future if I married him. Ours is a very poor family and I dropped out of high school. I thought my father would not have brought me a better partner and therefore I accepted the marriage, ”he told the Hindustan Times.
The Nikah was performed by a Qazi according to Islamic laws and registered with the Telangana Wakf Board. “A week after the wedding reception, Ahmed went home to his parents. After that, he used to come to Hyderabad every six months and we used to stay in a rented house in the Tolichowki and Malakpet areas of Hyderabad, ”he said.
The last time Ahmed visited Fatima was in February 2020 and later, he visited his mother in Dubai while she was being held there due to the coronavirus lockdown.
“Later, he went to Boston where he got a job as a driver. He used to be in contact with me even from the United States. He told me that he had gotten another job there and earned around 4 lakh rupees a month. He also sent me money for my daily needs, ”he said.
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On October 7, Ahmed called Fatima’s father, Mohd Fareed, and told him that he was divorcing her. “He asked my father to turn on the loudspeaker of his cell phone and pronounced triple talaq, for no reason. I called him again and had an argument, but he did not reveal why he was divorcing me, ”she lamented.
Later, Ahmed blocked her and her family members’ mobile numbers and did not receive any calls. Fatima tried to contact her mother-in-law in Dubai and her sister-in-law who stayed in London. “Although they initially assured me of justice, they also blocked my number later and could not be reached,” he said.
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After making repeated efforts to contact them over the past two months, Fatima finally reached out to the foreign affairs ministry for their help.
It can be mentioned that Parliament passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill last year, 2019, which criminalized instant triple talaq among Muslims. The bill won presidential approval in August.
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