Anjali Tiwari who became Ayesha, self-immolated outside the police station in Hazratganj in Utter Pradesh, after being harassed by her Muslim husband and in-laws. She later died in Civil Hospital in Lucknow on Thursday (October 15).
Unhappy with the atrocities of her husband Asif Raza and her in-laws, Anjali reached the woman police station with her complaint but was not heard there. Seeing no action on her complaint, Anjali took the extreme step and doused herself on fire outside the Uttar Pradesh BJP office.
A graphic video of Ayesha who set herself on fire outside the police station and policemen trying to save her had gone viral on social media.
Lucknow woman Anjali Tiwari alias Ayesha, who burnt herself outside police station yesterday after facing harassment from her Muslim in-laws, has died in the hospitalpic.twitter.com/mwNumN7CxA
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) October 14, 2020
Hindi media reports state that Anjali, a Hindu woman from Jharkhand moved to Lucknow’s Maharajganj area after her divorce, where she lived in rented accommodation. After meeting Aasif who later proposed to her and insisted she converts to Islam, Anjali and became Ayesha. She earned her livelihood by working in a clothes shop.
However, Aasif’s family had a strong reservation against this marriage and hence the couple moved to Gorakhpur. After living with Aasif for two-three years, Aasif left for the UAE to work and her in-laws allegedly refused to let her live with them. As per the report, after her marriage to Aasif, he began to harass Anjali and moved alone to Saudi Arabia and has been incommunicado for the last 2.5 years and he also stopped sending her money.
The report states that Ayesha, practically a destitute staged a protest outside the house of her husband’s family. The local police removed her from the spot and took her to the police station. There she narrated her ordeal to the police and sought justice.
However, an apathetic police did not do its duty as per the law and failed to register a case based on her statement nor took any action.
On a fateful Tuesday (October 13), having lost all hope for justice, Ayesha went to the Hazratganj police station and set herself on fire and sustained 90 percent burn injuries. She remained in a critical condition and on 15 October died.
Also, the police have now claimed that her dying declaration could not be recorded as she had been unconscious.
But this is how the mainstream English media reported the incident. A report published by the Times of India did not even mention the names or revealed the identities.
The Indian Express report which too did not reveal the identity of the victim or the perpetrator said that the police are terming the self-immolation a conspiracy “hatched by a political leader” adding that the UP police have now arrested Alok Prasad Pasi, state president of the UP Dalit Congress, suspected of inciting the woman to take such a step.
The Indian Express report quoted the Lucknow DCP (Central) Somen Barma saying that the police have filed an FIR for abetment to suicide against Pasi, son of former Rajasthan Governor Sukhdev Prasad.
Maharajganj Superintendent of Police Pradeep Gupta was quoted saying, “We suspect that Alok Prasad is involved in the issue. For the past several days, he was frequently seen with the woman and he may have had a role in inciting her to take the extreme step. We will check his call detail records.”
On the other hand, the rabid Muslim apologist outlets like The Wire, Scroll, etc haven’t even carried a story for name sake.
This case of Hindu women who converted to Islam and having succumbed to the atrocities of her Muslim husband and in-laws comes in the wake of an ad by jewellery brand Tanishq which portrayed a happy inter-faith marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man.