Author: Prateek Goyal
Publication: Punemirror.in
Date: December 20, 2013
URL: http://www.punemirror.in/article/62/2013122020131220110440802784352fd/%E2%80%98Mufti-forced-me-to-divorce-my-husband-marry-sans-witness%E2%80%99.html
In complaints to Shivajinagar, Cantonment courts woman alleges Mufti Shakir Khan is threatening her; activists say he is close to top city police officers
The cloud over Kondhwa-based Madarsa Baitool Uloom — where an 11-year-old male student was allegedly molested by teacher Hafiz Riyaz on December 12 — has thickened after a woman filed two complaints in court against the madarsa’s owner, Mufti Shakir Khan, accusing him of attempt to murder, unnatural sex, domestic violence and cheating.
The complaints have been filed with the Shivajinagar and Cantonment courts. While the notice from Shivajinagar court is yet to be sent, the Cantonment court has fixed the hearing for December 23 and asked the police to appear in court.
The complainant approached Shivajinagar court on December 17, where she filed a private criminal complaint against Khan, alleging domestic violence. She also filed another private criminal complaint with Cantonment court on December 18, alleging offences under IPC sections 377, 307, 420.
In her complaints to both courts, the woman claimed she had been receiving threatening calls from Khan over the past two weeks, and felt intimidated by the “strong relationship between Khan and local police”. Her residence falls under the jurisdiction of the Kondhwa police station.
On December 17, she claimed to have sent complaints over fax to the city Commissioner of Police, copied to the Pune District Collector, State and National Commissions for Women and State home department. She also stated that she has submitted a written complaint to the Commissioner of Police on December 18.
In her complaint, the woman claimed she was married to Khan on July 7 under Sharia law, but no registration (nikaahnama) was done. The woman claimed she first met Khan in his capacity as a mufti (equivalent to a judge under Islamic law) in June to get counselling for her troubled marriage.
She alleged that Khan advised her to divorce her husband, to which she agreed. The divorce came through within a month, following which Khan convinced her to marry him.
She said Khan wanted to get married without any witnesses, but when she insisted, he agreed to allow three witnesses from among her family members. Khan, she claimed, promised to make the marriage public at the earliest, but failed to do so.
In her complaint to court, she claimed that Khan already had three wives at the time of her wedding, but misled her saying his earlier marriages were not registered as well.
Meanwhile, Azhar Tamboli, a social and RTI activist based in Kondhwa, told Mirror that a woman has handed him an affidavit alleging advances by Khan when she approached him for marriage counselling in August 2008.
In her affidavit, the woman claimed Khan promised to get her divorce done “in a single day”, whereas the procedure under Islamic law takes 30 days. Speaking to Mirror, the woman said, “He told me, ‘I will get your divorce in one day so that people will not think that I want to marry you’.” The woman, who has since reconciled with her husband, said Khan tried to force her husband to sign on the divorce papers.
She added that her son was a student at the Madarsa Baitool Uloom in 2008, where an attempt to molest him was made by a teacher. “My son was a day scholar. One day, when I went to pick him up from school, he was shivering and told me that the teacher (ustad) pulled him into a room and tried to molest him. After this, I didn’t send him to that school again.”
Tamboli said, “A mufti is equivalent to a judge in Sharia law and is a very respectable figure. People go to him to sort out their problems. Generally, the mufti tries to save marriages, but Khan has established a modus operandi to convince women who approach him for counselling to get divorced, then trap and exploit them physically and mentally.”
Arshi Sheikh, a Kondhwa-based activist and management consultant, claimed that Hafiz Aklak — accused in three rape cases of girl students while working as a manager at the Wardalil-Banat Madarsa at Umarga in Osmanabad district — had stayed in Madarsa Baitool Uloom for over a month.
Tamboli, Sheikh and an another activist, Liaqat khan, alleged they have been receiving threatening calls from Khan. Liaqat Khan has filed a complaint in this regard with Kondhwa police station. He said, “I have receivied threat calls from Khan, during which he mentioned his close relationship with Commissioner of Police Gulabrao Pol.”
Mufti Shakir Khan, when contacted, initially wanted to reply over email but later got his lawyer, Tariq Anwar Patel, to call this reporter.
“The case of sexual abuse of the 11-year-old a few days ago is not true. It is not a case of sexual abuse. The boy was beaten as punishment, to which his parents had given their consent. I have no idea about the other cases.
Mufti Khan is not a fundamentalist and has a modern approach in running the madarsa. He has introduced English and Computer Studies there, because of which some fundamentalists are trying to defame him by connecting him with women.”
Patel added, “As for Hafiz Aklak, he was staying at the madarsa for the last one-and-a-half months, but when Mufti Khan came to know three days ago that he was an alleged rapist, he immediately asked him to leave.
It’s difficult for any establishment, be it a a regular school or a madarsa, to conduct police verification of teachers working with them.”
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