Mumbai woman dumped by hubby, beaten up by father-in-law

Subsequent to discovering through a social networking site that her US-based husband had divorced her, a 21-year-old woman was allegedly thrown out of her marital home yesterday. The victim gave a distress call to Mumbai police's helpline 103 and Oshiwara cops, when her father-in-law ‘banned' her from entering the house.

Couple at odds: Ali Hussain Siraji with Asiya (name changed) at the time of their wedding

Asiya Siraji (name changed), who is married to Ali Hussain Siraji, had last month lodged a harassment complaint with the police after she learnt that her husband, who's staying in the United States, had unilaterally ended their relationship. She had also alleged that her father-in-law had been torturing her for the past two months.

According to the complainant, she and Ali had had an arranged marriage on July 26, 2012. Her husband had told her that he was a doctor and had returned to the US a month after the wedding, leaving Asiya to stay with his father Kamar Hussain in a flat at Lokhandwala.

Asiya alleged to the police that a few months later, her father-in-law and domestic help Reshma had beaten her up, and that they would frequently walk into her room unannounced - even late at night. The victim said that whenever she complained to her husband, he always told her that she would have to go through this if she wanted to stay with his family.

Following the frequent torture, Asiya left the house and lodged a complaint with the police when she found out that her husband had updated his status on a social networking site as ‘divorced'. "When I learnt this, I got in touch with a few women in America, who claimed to have had affairs with Ali and were promised marriage by him," said Asiya in her complaint.

The Oshiwara police had then registered a case under sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. They are on the lookout for Ali, while his father has obtained anticipatory bail.

Suicide threat
Last evening, Asiya called up the police and threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to stay in her marital home. "We have registered a non-cognisable compliant against Kamar Hussain, and have asked Asiya to approach the family court for the matter of domestic violence," said PSI M Suryavanshi from Oshiwara police station.u00a0