A Hindu woman who had eloped and converted to Islam to marry her Muslim husband, committed suicide last Sunday in Ahmedabad, DNA has reported.
A case of abetting suicide was lodged with Vejalpur police against the husband, Sajid Sheikh (resident of Juhapura), and his family for allegedly forcing the woman to commit suicide. The deceased, Nikita Dave, who was known as Khushboo Banu after her wedding, and Sheikh had been married for over two years. The couple had eloped after their families opposed their marriage.
After marriage, Nikita had returned to her parents’ house when she discovered that Sheikh had an extramarital affair. Following intervention by the parents, Nikita returned to her in-laws and conceived a son.
However, Sheikh continued to court different women which Nikita’s mother-in-law advised her to ignore. Nikita once again returned to her parents only to be sent back, following which she was allegedly beaten up by her husband and even forced to eat non-veg.
Finally,Nikita hanged herself from the ceiling fan at her in-laws’. A complaint was lodged by her mother Meena Dave, who told police that Nikita’s husband and in-laws rushed her to a private hospital and dumped her there.
This case again serves as a tragic caution to young people who get swept away in the Bollywood promoted idea of ‘love conquers all’ without awareness of social mores and personal laws of other communities. But it also begs the question of why the parents insisted on their daughter returning to her in-laws when there was clear evidence that she was being ill-treated there.
We need to rebuild our social institutions so that such exploitation is not tolerated, and parents and victims are not left waging a lone battle.
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