Here’s the third and the final part of ScoopWhoop’s series on the victims of Triple Talaq.

Nazia Shaikh*, 47, Housewife

For 19 years, Nazia Shaikh had been happily married to a Mumbai hair stylist Abdul Shaikh*. The life was good and the couple had a son. Two years after her marriage, Nazia’s parents died and left her with a longtime ailing brother.

“I was an orphan and had no one except my son and husband. But I didn’t know my life was going to take a turn for the worse and turn upside down,” Nazia told ScoopWhoop.

In 2012, Nazia’s husband married another woman and kept it a secret for months before Nazia and her in-laws came to know about it.

“We came to know about it after four months. I don’t know why he did this to me. I had done nothing wrong to him. My son loved his father so much that he went mad after his father left home to stay with his second wife,” said Nazia, while struggling to control her tears.

Aware of her husband’s second wife, Nazia, a housewife, continued to talk and meet her husband “for the sake of her 17-year-old son”, when Abdul visited home sometimes.

Last year, Nazia’s husband sent a Talaq Naama (divorce papers) to her through a Qazi (judge of Muslim jurisprudence) “without any reason.”

As per the Islamic law, the divorce proceedings have to be initiated and carried out thrice in a span of 90 days including the attempts to involve mediators from both the families to make efforts for reconciliation. No such procedure was followed, claims Nazia.

“When I went to Qazi, he told me two divorce notifications have been already conveyed to you. I had received only one – the third one. Even then, I didn’t know why he divorced me,” she added.

Interestingly, Nazia’s case was not immediately related to Triple Talaq but of the alleged unilateral and partisan attitude of the male-dominated Muslim religious authority.

“I asked the Qazi how he could decide on a divorce without knowing the other side of the story. My husband leveled a number of allegations against me but I was given no chance to defend myself,” Nazia said. “He wanted to run away from his responsibility and stay with his second wife.”

While the matter dragged on, the Muslim judge did make attempts at reconciliation but with a condition – Nazia had to accept Abdul’s second wife and live together.

“I was also ready for that but his second wife didn’t want him to be with me or our son,” she said.

The Qazi advised some sittings of both the parties to solve the matter amicably, but Abdul never showed up.

“Abdul hasn’t been home for the last eight months,” said Nazia. “That woman has also taken him away from his parents,” she added.

With her marital dispute pending, Nazia is thankful to her in-laws – a joint family of 15 members – who have let her stay with them, but she fears the day when her mother-in-law is no more.

“You need money for justice too. That’s why I haven’t filed a court case. I have no one except my son. He works at a belt shop for a salary of Rs 5,000. I don’t have the means to educate him. He misses his father,” Nazia said, breaking down.

“My husband alleged I am not a good woman. If I was wrong, would my in-laws allow me to stay with them?” Nazia asks. 

(*Name changed)

You can read the first and second part of the Triple Talaq series here and here. 

Feature image source: ScoopWhoop