Hyderabad: Woman waiting since nine months to get her right

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], May 14 (ANI): Fed up with torture at the hand of her husband, Reshma who wants to move out of her marriage, has been trapped in the clutches of the Islamic law. Reshma who got married to an auto-driver seven years ago, has been a victim of domestic violence for quite a long time. When she tried to seek 'Khula' (freedom) from her husband, which is a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband in Islam, he made such demands that Reshma could probably never fulfil and possibly could never get out of her bad marriage. "It has been seven years since I got married. From that time, I have been witnessing the same thing. He used to hit me, beat me every day. I tried to stop his bad habits, but nothing happened. Now I want to take Khula from him, so he is asking for Rs. 80,000, 10 gms of gold and wants to take the custody of our son too. For signing the papers he is asking for the amount," Reshma told ANI. As per the Islamic law, Khula is a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband, by returning the dower (mahr) that she received from her husband. Khula allows a woman to initiate a divorce through the mutual consent of the husband or a judicial decree. Women activist Jameela Nishad who is helping Reshma to get her right, said that Reshma's husband always used to harass her and after which she approached her for seeking justice. "There is a little discrimination. When a husband gives divorce to his wife then the wife's signature is not necessary, but when a women asks for Khula, then why is the signature of her husband necessary? This practice should be stopped. Both the humans are equal so this practice should be abolished," Nishad said. (ANI)