Imrana: Seeking justice

Lucknow, Feb. 1: Imrana Bibi, the 28-year-old mother of five whose accusation of rape against her father-in-law last year had split the Muslim clergy and caught the nation’s attention, today said she fears a threat to her life.

Imrana moved an application in the district and sessions court in Muzaffarnagar saying she was being subject to pressure by her in-laws to withdraw the rape case and reach a compromise, and feared for her life.

“I am being victimised again. I had reiterated my charge that I was raped by my father-in-law. I want justice. But some vested interests have colluded with the defence and adopted tactics of delaying the trial,” she said in court this morning.

The defence is trying to prove that there was no rape and had sought permission to submit in court a video-recording of an alleged statement by Imrana that her father-in-law Ali Mohammad had not succeeded in his rape attempt. The statement was recorded by the Muslim organisation, Milli Council, on June 24 last year, the defence lawyer said.

However, the prosecution objected to the move, saying a statement recorded by a private organisation with vested interest should not be accepted as evidence.

The next hearing is on February 6.

The Imrana case made headlines in June last year when a community panchayat passed the edict that Imrana would have to separate from her husband because the rape had altered her relationship with him, making him like a son to her. The Deoband seminary, Dar-ul Uloom, endorsed this verdict in a fatwa, sparking an outcry across the country.

Imrana’s application comes a day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board demanded that the uniform civil code be scrapped. As long as the provision existed in the Constitution, Muslims would fear interference in their personal law, it said.

Deoband exit

Dar-ul Uloom’s media adviser Mufti Azahar Arshad quit the seminary yesterday in protest against the handling of the Imrana case. He accused the Deoband brass of changing their stand several times.