A Muslim woman in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, faced harassment and humiliation at the hands of her family, religious leader and other co-religionists for putting a saffron stoll over her niqab. She showed up at the police commissioner’s office with a saffron dupatta covering her headscarf and narrated her ordeal in front of the media. She revealed, “I had gone to meet with the Chief Minister with concerns about harassment and property conflict. However, many people told me that I am now a Hindu and hence as per Sharia, I am not eligible for any assistance going forward.”
The victim is from the Moolganj area and notified the chief minister about her predicament on 23rd December while wearing the saffron dupatta. She disclosed that her brothers want to kick her out of the house because of a property dispute. Furthermore, the people in her neighbourhood harass her when she goes out. She complained about it to the authorities in 2022. She then visited CM Yogi after which the cops intervened. The photograph of the encounter became viral creating problems for her.
Her brothers stopped feeding her, took all of her belongings including sweaters and blankets and left her to fend for herself in the winter with just her dupatta. She unveiled that she was mocked for wearing the stoll and taunted that she had become like Yogi Adityanath. Her brothers instructed her to go to him because she is Hindu now. They threw her out of the house after assaulting her and she is currently living with her mother. Additionally, everything their father left behind, including the property, cash and jewellery was transferred into their names by her brothers.
The city cleric Abdul Quddus Haji initially promised to help her, however, when she called upon him on 29th November 2023, he claimed that she had converted to Hinduism after meeting with the chief minister in saffron. He ordered her to get out of the place. She added, “I told him that I have no resources to manage my expenses according to Sharia Law.” He hurled abuses at her, grabbed a stick and shooed her away when she pleaded for help to survive. Furthermore, the meagre assistance from her brothers was also discontinued. She was supposed to receive Rs 3000 and Rs 2000 from her two brothers respectively along with the fulfillment of her basic requirements like food and clothes.
Following the incident, she complained to Jamiat Ulema e Hind’s national president Arshad Madani and protested about the same, but he brushed her off and alleged that the city clergy would take care of this since it was a local problem. She also presented the audio of the conversation to the media.
The woman submitted a report to the police commissioner’s staff officer Ashok Kumar Singh who informed that the task of conducting the probe had been entrusted to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Anita Singh. He proclaimed, “The woman and her brothers are already at odds. She has complained about it many times. The police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) and taken action.”
Meanwhile, the cleric has alleged that the accusations against him are false. “How can I even think of such a thing to stop her from going to meet the chief minister,” he asked.
