An account of how Muslims across India are emulating the holy tradition of prophet Muhammad by raping their daughters-in-law.
A recent incident
On December 9, this year, a leading Bengali daily in Kolkata reported that Mukhtar Sheikh of the village of Dangrail in the district of Murshidabad, West Bengal, raped his newly married daughter-in-law Amina (name changed) on November 24, while his son Salam Sheikh was away. Salam, a mason, has to stay away occasionally from home according to demand of his job. On the fateful day, he went to his construction site at Asansol and Mukhtar utilized the opportunity and raped Salam’s wife. When Salam returned home, he advised his wife to hush up the matter. He also locked her in a room so that she might not go outdoor and tell the story to outsiders.
After a few days, when Salam set Amina free, she immediately informed the incident to her father Latifur Sheikh of the nearby village. Latifur took her to the nearest police station and submitted a written complaint against Mukhtar, Mukhtar’s wife, and Salam. Mukhtar and Salam were arrested immediately while Amiron Bibi was found absconding. On December 8, the culprits were produced in the Jangipur Sub-divisional Court and were remanded in police custody for 14 days.
The report also said the marriage of Salam and Amina took place only six months ago. So far, Latifur was happy with the marriage of his daughter to Salam, but the rape incident upset him. The investigating police officer told reporters that, in 2005, when the entire nation was tumultuous with the raping of Imrana by her father-in-law in the Charthwala village in Uttar Pradesh (see below), a similar incident happened in the village of Belgharia in the Sagardighi area of Murshidabad district. In 2006, a similar incident took place in the Baliarghati village of the Suti area of Murshidabad. In the Baliarghati incident, the matter was settled by a kangaroo court of local clerics, while the incident in the Beigharia is still to be decided in the court of law. These incidents make it clear that raping daughters-in-law by their fathers-in-law is regular occurrence in Muslim society and that most of these cases are either hushed up or settled by the local clerics. Cases that appear in the media are only the tip of the iceberg. A few such incidents that surfaced in public are narrated below.
A few other incidents
On December 9, 2007, police arrested Mortaza Ali—a resident of the Dakshinberia village, near Baduria in the North 24-Pargana district of West Bengal and a local leader of the Communist Party of India, Marxist (CPIM)—on charges of raping his 21 year-old daughter-in-law Fatima Bibi (name changed), wife of his son Joirul Islam. He was remanded in judicial custody for two weeks, after being produced before the Basirhat sub-divisional magistrate’s court on December 10. The victim Fatima Bibi had reported the rape to police on 15 November, which occurred on 8 November when she was alone at her residence. According to police, culprit had allegedly threatened the victim of dire consequences if she dared to disclose the incident to anyone. But Fatima Bibi confided the incident to her husband Joirul Islam and urged him to accompany her to the police station.
But Joirul advised her to keep mum and not to inform police. But Fatima Bibi somehow managed to go to her parents’ house in the Jhunjhunia village near Habra, North 24-Parganas district and with her father’s assistance, finally succeeded to lodge a complaint with the police on 15 November.
In the same year, on 10 December, Rojina Bibi (name changed), a housewife of the Kirdoli village in the Sikar district of Rajasthan alleged that Nizamu Khan, her father-in-law, raped her and killed her newborn baby. A case was subsequently registered with the police. Rojina Bibi, 22, had moved to her husband’s house in Kirdoli village after her marriage five years earlier. Some 16 months before the rape, her husband left for Dubai with a job. Rojina Bibi also alleged that Nizamu had threatened her to keep mum or face dire consequence.
According to another press report in the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika, on 1 October, 2007, Abu Hossein Ghazi, resident of the Najahari village under the Bishnupur police station, South 24-Parganas district, West Bengal, was arrested for molesting his daughter-in-law. The victim, in her written complaint, alleged that her husband was residing in some other place to attend his job, when her father-in-law molested and raped her.
The story of lone fighter Aleya Bibi
The Ananda Bazar Patrika on 4 October, 2007, reported another case, in which a rapist, named Gedu Shaikh of the district of Maldah, West Bengal, was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping his daughter-in-law Aleya Bibi. The rapist and the victim fought a legal battle against the will of her relatives and local clerics. The local kangaroo court, presided over by clerics, offered her 2 bighas of land and 50 thousand rupees, as compensation, and she withdraw the case against her father-in-law. But Aleya refused. Her husband Shamirul Shaikh also sided with his father and threatened her with a divorce. But all these odds failed to dampen the spirit of Aleya Bibi.
Aleya Bibi told reporters that she fought the legal battle not only for herself but also for all housewives who are falling victim to lust of their fathers-in-law. She asserted that the judgment would certainly scare offenders, who would think twice before raping their daughters-in-law. She also said: “It is better to leave a husband who sides with the rapist of his wife.”
She told the reporters that her husband was living in a neighbouring state to attend his job and she was living with other relatives of the family. On April 2, 2006, all the members of the family went to attend a marriage party in a nearby village, leaving her under the care of her father-in-law, providing him an opportunity to rape and molest her.
Rape and cruel murder of Rihana Bibi
The most gruesome incident of raping daughters-in-laws by Muslims was raping and killing of Rihana Bibi (25), wife of Abdur Rahman Mandal, by her father-in-law Abdur Rezzak Mandal, a resident of Panigobra village under the Basirhat police station in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal. The news of rape and murder of Rihana appeared in leading dailies of Kolkata on Friday, 1 August, 2007. On July 30 night, Rihana was murdered by Abdur Rezak and Abdur Rahman before the eyes of 7 year-old Ranuara Khatun and 5 year-old Omar, daughter and son of Rihana. According to neighbours, Abdur Rezzak had raped Rihana Bibi for quite a long time, under the threat of life. A few years earlier, Abdur Rezzak had confessed his guilt before a kangaroo court of village elders and clerics. Whenever Rihana complained to her husband Abdur Rahman, he held her responsible.
Ranuara and Omar told police that on the night of the murder incident, when Abdur Rezzak was committing sexual assault on Rihana, Abdur Rahman appeared on the scene. Then Abdur Rahman started stabbing her indiscriminately with a sharp weapon, while Abdur Rezzak held Rihana by her hands and neck. As the murder incident occurred, Ranuara and Omar rushed out and tried to arouse sleeping neighbours, but no one responded. When returned home, they found Rihana lying in a pool of blood, while their father, grandfather and grandmother had fled.
Rihana Khatun was married to Abdur Rahman Mandal, a day labourer for about 9 years. Liaqat Biswas, uncle of Rihana, told investigating officers: “We were aware of the fact that Rihana’s father-in-law used to rape her regularly. But after the court of arbitration, the recurrence of the crime came down considerably. But this time, they have killed the unfortunate girl by stabbing her with a dagger, mutilated one of her breasts and introduced an iron rod into her private part.”
 Omar and Ranuara Khatun, son and daughter of Rihana Bibi |
The Story of Imrana
The incident that got wide media publicity throughout the whole country was the raping of Imrana Bibi by her father-in-law Ali Mohammad in Uttar Pradesh.
On June 6, 2005, 28 year-old Imrana was raped by her Ali Mohammad, aged 69. When Imrana, a mother of five children, took her complaint to the local panchayat, she was told that, as she had sex with her father-in-law, she should henceforth treat her father-in-law as her new husband and her original husband Nur Mohammad as her son. Leading Islamic seminary of the country, the Darul-uloom Deoband, too, decreed that she could no longer live with her husband Nur Mohammad. It said: “After a sexual union between his wife and his father, Nur mohammad simply cannot have a relationship with Imrana. The marriage is ‘haram’ (unlawful) under Sharia law and is therefore null and void.” But a rape case was registered by the police and social activists across the country took up the cause.
However, after prolonged legal battle, Imrana (a name that had become a national symbol of womanhood crushed by the conservative Muslim society) got justice on 19 October, 2006. A Muzaffarnagar district court convicted Ali Mohammad, Imrana’s father-in-law, of raping her and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment, and payment Rs. 8,000 fine as compensation for the rape and another Rs. 3,000 for criminal intimidation. The judgment was received with cheer from activists and sections of the Muslim community, who were outraged by the panchayat verdict and the Deoband fatwa.
But the victory in court was no respite to Imrana as the ulema demanded termination of her marriage with Nur Mohammad. Abdul Mannan Karmi, one of the most outspoken maulanas of the Barelvi sect, said: “Had Ali Mohammad not been found guilty, there would have been no need for a divorce. But once his guilt has been established in court, the situation becomes totally different.” He also said that the best course open for Nur was to divorce Imrana, so thar she may another man to marry. “After divorcing Imrana, if Nur ever decided to remarry her, such a ceremony would also be illegal under Islamic law”, Mr Karmi added.
 Ali Mohammad, Imrana’s father-in-law |
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While commenting on the matter, Gauhar Siddiqi, a social activist from Muzaffarnagar, said: “The Deoband ulema also maintained the same view. The head of the fatwa section in the seminary, Mufti Ahsan-ul-Qasmi has already declared that once rape has been proved, Imrana and Nur can no longer be a couple.”
It is important to note that, in the eye of the Muslim clerics, the raping of a woman by her father-in-law is a minor offence, indeed, not an offence at all, because Prophet Muhammad, at the age of 54, married Zeinab, the wife of his adopted son Zeid.
In support of that scandalous marriage, Allah said: “…So when Zeyd had performed the necessary formality (of divorce) from her wife, We gave her unto thee in marriage, so that (henceforth) there may be no sin for believers in respect of wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have performed the necessary formality (of release) from them. The command of Allah must be fulfilled.” (Quran 33: 37).
From the words of Allah and prophetic example, marrying daughters-in-law is an extremely pious act in Islam, which Muslims should eagerly emulate.
On the other hand, the the Darul-uloom Deoband fatwa appears to be an allurement for Muslims to turn their daughters-in-law into their own wives simply by raping her in an opportune moment. Thanks to Allah for providing such golden rules.
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