Love, ludo & longing: An India-Pakistan story that ended in arrests, deportation

The Bengaluru Police, alerted by intelligence about WhatsApp calls she made to her parents in Pakistan, arrested Iqra on January 23 for illegally entering India and forging her identity to live in the city, while Mulayam was arrested for providing shelter to a Pakistani national. On Sunday, February 19, she was handed over to immigration officials at the India-Pakistan border and deported to Pakistan.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield) S Girish confirmed to The Indian Express that Iqra was deported to Pakistan on Sunday.

Officials at the women’s home in Bengaluru where she was lodged for a month said that the 19-year-old would often beseech to anyone who was willing to listen: “I want to live with my husband in India for the rest of my life. Please don’t send me back (to Pakistan). Please let me talk to him.”

A Bengaluru police officer said, “Iqra’s only request since her arrest was to stay with her husband in India. She loves him a lot. I feel sorry for the couple, but as an officer of the law, there was nothing we could do,” said.

Over 1,500 km from Bengaluru, in Maksudan village of Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, 55-year-old Shanti Yadav who has never met her Pakistani daughter-in-law pleads, “Unko waapas bhejo. Ek ko nahi, dono ko. Jab sab log raazi hain, toh kya dikkat hai (Send them back to the village. Not one of them, but both. When everyone is okay with the marriage, what is the problem)?”

An officer investigating the case said, “Deliriously in love, Mulayam came up with the plan to bring Iqra to India. In September 2022, he bought her air tickets to Kathmandu via Dubai. He met her in Nepal, where they got married in a Hindu ceremony.”

The couple then entered India by bus and went to Bengaluru, where they lived in rented a house near a temple in Junnasandra [southeast Bengaluru]. Mulayam returned to working as a security guard, while Iqra was more than happy to look after their home.

To keep Iqra’s nationality under wraps, Mulayam created a new identity for her. A police officer said, “He used his Aadhaar card to get one made for her too. He changed the photo and her name was changed to Riya Yadav.”

But it wasn’t the fake Aadhaar card that raised a red flag. The trinity of WhatsApp calls that Iqra made to Pakistan, the G20 summit and Aero India 2023 huffed and puffed and blew their house of cards down.

An officer said, “We became really concerned when we received information about a Pakistani national in Bengaluru ahead of the G20 summit and Aero India 2023. The threat perception put us on toes. On investigation, it became clear that this was nothing more than a love story. We sent a report to intelligence agencies citing that there is no security threat, only that she entered India illegally.”

Another investigating officer added, “She caught the attention of the central intelligence agency because of the calls she made to Pakistan. Months after coming to Bengaluru, she called them on WhatsApp and introduced Mulayam as Sameer, a Muslim man she had married.”

Since Iqra spoke Hindi, even if laced with Urdu, the neighbours never suspected anything. (Police officers say she also spoke fluent English.) Speaking to The Indian Express, their neighbours said the couple seemed happy and never fought.

One of them recalled, “He worked and she was a homemaker. We got to know about it [Iqra’s nationality] only after the police turned up to arrest them in January.”

Mulayam’s brother Ranjit Yadav, 38, a halwai in Maksudan, said, “We did not know about Mulayam’s marriage. We had never met the girl, never heard of her. We got to know that he had married someone from Pakistan after the police arrested him. But itni badi koi galti nahi ki hai usne. Shaadi ki hai. Woh bhi sabki marzi se (But it is not like he has committed a huge mistake. He just got married, after all, and that too with everyone’s consent). The girl’s family was okay with the marriage. And now, so were we.”

The family lives in a pucca house in the village, about 30 km from Prayagraj, and relies on the earnings of Mulayam, Ranjit and their brother Jeetlal, their 5.5 bighas and three cows and a buffalo. “Mulayam and Jeetlal went to Bengaluru 5-6 years ago along with 20 boys from the village. Mulayam works there as a security guard. He also worked for food delivery apps,” said Ranjit.

Shanti, who bursts into tears every now and then, said, “Woh pehle Pakistani thi. Par ab woh humari bahu hai (She was a Pakistani earlier but she is our daughter-in-law now).”

Mulayam applied for bail on February 13 but his plea was rejected by a local Bengaluru court, which cited a terror threat. The police objected to his petition stating that it is investigating whether Mulayam had smuggled someone other than Iqra to India from Pakistan.

“Mulayam’s only crime was falling in love. He never knew that it would become such a big issue,” said Shanti, patting dung cakes on the wall outside their house. “Pyaar mein kuch nahi dikhta hai. Humare ladke aur bahu ko waapas bhejna hoga. Woh humari hi nahi, humare desh ki bahu hai (Love is blind. They should send my son and daughter-in-law back. She is not just our daughter-in-law, but an Indian daughter-in-law now).”