The saga of a woman who faced a dilemma of choosing between her first husband, who languished in a Pakistani jail and was presumed dead, and his cousin, whom she married, has taken another turn.Sheela Kushwah left the tiny Pyauchak village in Ashoknagar district announcing that she would live with neither of them. The 30-year-old has a daughter from each marriage and promised to take care of both of them till they grow up. Purushottam, a labourer, had gone missing four years ago from his village, apparently because he was mentally unstable. He slept on a train and found himself in Jammu and crossed the border to find himself in a Pakistani jail. With the help of other Indian prisoners he managed to send a letter to his family in October 2005.By then family members and villagers had convinced Sheela to marry Purushottam’s cousin Ajab Singh, much younger to her. Purushottam, who was among the 20 Indians released on December 23, reached his village on January 2 after spending some time in the government hospital in Amritsar. The village had celebrated his return and Sheela had said that she would return to her first husband. Ajab Singh had also said he respected his wife’s wish but would continue to live with her in case Purushottam refused to accept her. Sarpanch Rajkumar Yadav told The Indian Express on Saturday that Sheela left the village to be with a relative living in another village. She found no signs of improvement in Purushottam, who talks incoherently. Yadav said she did not like the idea of living with Ajab Singh when her first husband was around.“She found the stress too difficult to cope with,’’ he said on being asked what prompted her to leave the village in a hurry.Purushottam and his father Lal Sahab met district collector Mukesh Chandra Gupta on Saturday and requested him for help. Gupta said he offered to arrange for his medical treatment in a government hospital. He said there seemed to be a land dispute, too, in the family though he was not aware of the exact details. Yadav said the village had left the decision to Sheela and her family. Only if they can’t sort out the matter will the panchayat try to intervene, he said.
