It has been over five months since 36-year-old Asiyahha, a native of Kannur and a resident of Bengaluru, started staying in Sullia waiting for her husband Ibrahim Khaleel Kattekar to accept her. She now accuses Ibrahim Kattekar’s brother and other members of his family of preventing her husband from living with her.
“I have approached the police, the local religious heads, Muslim organisations and also the State Woman’s Commission. None of them has taken any steps to convince my husband of the need to live with me. I am really distraught. This is not a way a woman who has converted to Islam should be treated,” Ms. Asiyahha told reporters here on Wednesday.
“I do not want to communalise this issue. I just want to reunite with my husband,” she added.
Ms. Asiyahha said that her earlier name was Shanti Joobi and she belonged to a wealthy family from the Thiyya community. She was living in Bengaluru. Following her father’s death and her divorce, Ms. Asiyahha said, she came in touch with Ibrahim Kattekar through Facebook. She converted to Islam and her Nikah with Ibrahim was held in the Gandhinagar Masjid in Peenya, Bengaluru, in January 2017.
After her family members came to know of her Nikah, she lost her right over her ancestral property. This, however, resulted in Ibrahim Kattekar leaving her on January 16 this year.
Following her visit to Sullia the next month, Ibrahim Kattekar stayed with her for three days in Bengaluru. Ibrahim Kattekar’s family members made the couple stay for short periods in Mysuru, Kasaragod and Shivamogga, from where Ibrahim Kattekar returned to Sullia. “Since June, I am in Sullia and waiting to reunite with my husband. His family members are not allowing it to happen,” she said.
“I have been issued a life threat by my husband’s family members. My family members have asked me not to use my family’s name. I am in a miserable state,” she said. She has submitted a petition to the Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police seeking custody of her husband.
She has also approached the Jamat with which her husband is associated and also the Muslim Okkota and a few Muslim organisations and Muslim leaders seeking a resolution.
It is her love for her husband, she said, that prevents her from registering an FIR against Ibrahim Kattekar. “I have waited enough. I want help in resolving this issue by Friday,” she said.