Johnson Cherian.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has stepped in to bring back from Pakistan, a Telangana woman who claims to have been tortured by her husband and in-laws.
“She is India’s daughter. If ticket is a problem, we will provide the ticket to Mohammadi Begum for her return from Pakistan,” Ms. Swaraj tweeted on Friday, reacting to a news report that the woman’s parents couldn’t afford the tickets.
Mohammadi Begum was married in 1996 to Mohammed Younis, who claimed to be from Oman. In March, she complained to her parents that her husband was actually a Pakistani and that she has been kept in confinement in Sialkot. Begum’s further said she was being harassed and beaten up by her husband and in-laws and that she wanted to come back to India.
Begum’s father Mohammad Akbar appealed to Ms. Swaraj through Majlis Bachao Tehreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan. Ms. Swaraj asked the Indian High Commission to pursue the matter. Begum’s passport was subsequently renewed. The parents, on Thursday, made a fresh appeal to Ms. Swaraj saying that Begum’s Pakistan visa is set to expire by December 16 and her husband informed them he would send her back to India provided the parents arrange her travel.
