Lucknow, India - Dar-ul Uloom, the Deoband seminary which sparked a controversy with its edict in the Imrana case, has decided to issue a fatwa to a man who divorced his wife over phone from Saudi Arabia after she complained of harassment by her in-laws.
The decision to declare the talaq invalid came after the family of Tarannum, the 20-year-old divorced woman, approached the seminary for justice.
“The triple talaq over phone is not acceptable as there cannot be any witness while doing this,” said a spokesman for the religious school, which had recently decreed that Imrana — who was allegedly raped by her father-in-law — could not live with her husband.
The rape, the seminary said, had altered their relation and Imrana’s husband had become “a sort of son” to her.
In another controversial order, the seminary had ruled that Muslim women should not contest elections and if they do, must do it under veil.
Tarannum’s troubles began after her husband Istakar left for Saudi Arabia in 2003. The young woman, who was asked to stay at her in-law’s place in Muzaffarnagar district of western Uttar Pradesh, said she was repeatedly molested by her brothers-in-law. “They threatened me whenever I protested,” she told police.
Tarannum had told her husband about the harassment and he had promised to look into it. But last week, when she told him again, Istakar lost his cool. He uttered the triple talaq and asked her to go back to her parents. Tarannum’s father Zaheer said Istakar refused to relent even after family elders intervened.
The police have registered a case. Circle officer Kalpana Saxena said a case of physical and mental torture against Istakar’s brothers has been filed. In Deoband, the spokesman for the religious school said: “We are examining the nitty-gritty of the case.”
The seminary’s decision to declare the phone talaq invalid should bring hope to women like Farhana.
Farhana’s husband married his cousin in Aligarh when she had gone on a visit to her parents in Bhopal. Her husband pronounced the triple talaq over phone. The reason he gave was he suspected her character.