Muslim Law Board says unlikely that Imrana was raped, property is reason

The Board team was sent on the fact-finding mission by its general secretary, Maulana Nizamuddin. The team leader and the Board’s Convenor, Qasim Rasool Ilyas — who returned from Muzaffarnagar today — told The Indian Express over the phone from New Delhi that ‘‘circumstantial evidence gathered from the house in which the incident took place and statements by Imrana’s family members and the neighbours to them did not seem to suggest that she was raped by her father-in-law. Her claim has not been corroborated by others,’’ he said.

Ilyas, who recorded the statements of Imrana — who now stays in Kukra village alongwith her five children, mother and brothers — Ali Ahmed’s wife, the elder brothers of Noor Elahi and neighbours, said the veracity of Imrana’s statement was under doubt.

‘‘Though Imrana has claimed that she was gagged by her father-in-law before the act, from conditions in the house — which has little privacy — rape could not have been possible. On the night of June 12 — when the incident is supposed to have taken place — five elder brothers of Imrana’s husband alongwith their families were sleeping in the ‘aangan’. Also present were her sister-in-law and her own children,’’ Ilyas said.

Imrana’s statements, sometimes contradictory, were not supported by her in-laws, the people of Kukra village and the imam of the local mosque. The property dispute seemed to be a more plausible reason. ‘‘Ali Ahmed wanted to sell off the house after he incurred debts but his move was opposed by Imrana and her husband,’’ said Ilyas, claiming that the couple then decided to fix him.

‘‘She instigated her brothers to thrash her father-in-law,’’ he said. Ilyas said one Jameel played a crucial role in the incident and it was he who informed the representative of a local Hindi daily and also the police of the ‘rape’ following which a case was registered against the father-in-law under Section 376 of the IPC.

The village panchayat, according to Ilyas, was not a formal panchayat. ‘‘It was a gathering of village elders in which the mufti of the local mosque declared that Imrana was ‘haraam’ for her husband and that the ‘nikah’ stands dissolved,’’ he said.

It was a fortnight after the panchayat’s ‘decision’ that the issue was brought before Darul Uloom, Deoband, in the form of a query from a local scribe, Ashraf Usmani, who wanted to know the status of the ‘nikaah’ of a woman who had been raped by her father-in-law. Imrana was not named in the query. Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Deoband seminary, Adil Siddiqui, has denied that a ‘fatwa’ had been issued by Darul Uloom.

Not under AIMPLB purview

LUCKNOW: In Lucknow, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Chairman and rector of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, Maulana Rabey Hasni Nadwi, sought to distance the Board from the Imrana issue. ‘‘The issue does not come under the purview of the Board; it’s a local issue which should be settled locally and the Board will strictly adhere to its policy of non-interference in the principles of law of different ‘maslaks’ (sects) as it would cause ‘intishaar’ ( controversy),’’ he said.

Asked why a Board team had been sent to Imrana’s village, Nadwi replied: ‘‘It was necessary to get the details and know the facts of the incident which led to the controversy.’’ He said because of the attacks on the Board, a meeting of the working committee would be convened soon. —ENS