On Tuesday (July 13), journalist Swati Goel Sharma took to Twitter to narrate the story of one young girl named Kirti Jain, who has reportedly committed suicide recently, three years after eloping with a man named Waseem Qureshi.
According to Sharma, Kirti Jain had eloped with Waseem Qureshi about 3 years ago. She hailed from a well-to-do family in Guna while the family of the man was poor. Nevertheless, Waseem began courting the girl while she was still a minor in school. Kirti eloped with the man soon after turning 18.
Kirti’s family has told that the person Waseem never even tried to meet Kirti’s family and the family had no idea about Kirty’s love affair. The couple had eloped directly.
However, the girl’s parents were successful in tracing her. They tried to explain to her the dangers of ‘love jihad’, set up meetings with the Jain leaders but Kirti insisted that she was marrying him out of her free will. As she was legally an adult. There was nothing the family could do.
Within 2-3 months of turning 18, she eloped with Waseem. Kirti’s elder brother Kuldeep tells me Waseem had never met them. They learnt about Waseem only after elopement. Kirti’s family however managed to locate her the same night. Matter was settled outside court +
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
All counselling sessions to prevent Kirti from returning to Waseem had failed. According to the girl’s brother Kuldeep, Kirti insisted that none knew Waseem better than her. She claimed that the man had vowed to leave non-vegetarian food, in line with Jain customs. The girl claimed that Waseem had promised her that she would not need to change her name or lifestyle. Despite her family’s efforts, Kirti had eloped with Waseem again.
Kirti dismissed all, saying they did not know Waseem well enough. She said he was even willing to give up meat. She also told them that Waseem had assured her there would be no change in her name or lifestyle after marriage
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
After a couple of months, she eloped again +
The family had initially approached the police in the matter. However, they stopped pursuing the case after Kirti told the Court that she had willingly gone with Waseem. According to journalist Swati Goel Sharma, the deceased girl had even uploaded a video on social media giving her consent for marriage with Waseem.
However, opposite to what Waseem had reportedly promised, the girl converted to Zainab and got married to Waseem. It was only after she started living with Waseem Kirti figured out that the man had no source of income and had nothing to feed his family. To Kirti’s surprise, Waseem’s family turned out to be extremely poor.
Kirti had nikah, became Zainab, and started living with Waseem away from Guna. After a few months, however, she contacted her family in distress, saying Waseem’s family was extremely poor and it had turned out that Waseem earned nothing +
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
According to Sharma, the girl got pregnant in her first year of marriage with Waseem. Given that the man had no money, the girl’s family gave ₹2 lacs for her delivery and medical care.
Her family, still miffed over her marriage with Waseem, told Kirti to not visit them. Kuldeep conceded, “We told her if you want to leave Waseem and come back, we will help you.” However, Kirti chose to stay with Waseem. After her child’s delivery, she began dialling home more frequently for money. The girl was reportedly confused about how Waseem managed to show off fancy bikes and take her to different places on dates while they were courting.
Even after her delivery, Kirti reportedly kept asking her parental family for money.
But Kirti did not take that step. She gave birth to a girl within a year of marriage. Now, she was calling home for money more often, even saying she doesn’t understand how Waseem managed to take her to places on fancy bikes before marriage as he earned nothing +
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
During the Coronavirus pandemic, Kirti Jain remained out of touch with her paternal family. In the past week, her brother Kuldeep received a call from the police asking him to identify his sister’s body in the hospital. Kirti had committed suicide by consuming aluminium phosphide (available under the brand name of Celphos). By the time the family reached the hospital, she was already dead.
Her family claimed her body and cremated her as per Jain traditions on Sunday (July 11). Kirti’s husband was opposed to it and insisted that she should be buried under Islamic customs, as she was a Muslim. However, he failed to show any proof for the same to the police. As such, the body was handed over to her paternal family and not the in-laws.
Kirti’s family claimed the body & cremated as per Jain rituals after showing police her birth certificate. Kuldeep tells me this was strongly opposed by Waseem and his family who insisted she was Muslim and must be buried. Police demanded proof, they couldn’t or didn’t provide + pic.twitter.com/YJ1SEGYlos
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Waseem and his family under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 304B (dowry death) and 498A (dowry harassment). According to Kuldeep, all the accused have been arrested by the Guna police.
Since then, this video has emerged where Kirti, while on hospital bed, is saying she had consumed poison on her own and had done it by “mistake”. Kuldeep says it hints that she might have been forced to consume poison or forced to give a statement to save Waseem’s family. pic.twitter.com/n3miEsEyAx
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 13, 2021
Swati Goel Sharma had also shared a video, which was shot before Kirti was declared dead. In her dying testimony, she claimed to have consumed the poison by mistake. Meanwhile, her brother Kuldeep claimed that Kirti might have been forced to take poison and coerced into giving a statement to absolve the accused Waseem’s family.
