Fatwa, reward for chopping my hair; I am getting threats: Triple talaq petitioner Nida Khan

The fresh threat to Nida Khan comes days after a Bareilly court declared the instant divorce given to her by her husband as invalid.

Image Credit: ANI

Bareilly: A fresh fatwa has been issued against triple talaq petitioner Nida Khan which announces a cash reward of Rs 11,876 for anyone who chops hair of the Bareilly-based woman, who has been in news for allegedly defying the Muslim clerics by challenging instant divorce and 'nikah halala'.

Speaking to ANI, Nida Khan said, ''A fatwa has been issued against me which says whosoever brings chopped hair of Nida Khan will be rewarded with an amount of Rs 11,786.''

Khan further informed that she has been threatened to leave the country in the next three days failing which she will be attacked with stones.

''If I do not leave this country within three days, I will be attacked with stones,'' Nida Khan said. 

A fatwa issued against me says whosoever brings chopped hair of Nida Khan will be rewarded with an amount of Rs.11786 and if I do not leave this country within 3 days, I will be attacked with stones: Nida Khan, triple talaq victim. #Bareilly pic.twitter.com/vCs0RX49MX

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 21, 2018

Undeterred by the fatwas issued against her, Nida Khan said that she would meet the Prime Minister and urge him to take action against those who issue such intimidating and bizarre fatwas.

''These people issuing such fatwas should be stopped. I will take a proper appointment to meet PM Modi and will appeal to him about it,'' she said.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Shahjahanpur today, Nida Khan could not meet him over concerns about her own safety.

The fresh threat to Nida Khan comes days after a Bareilly court declared the instant divorce given to her as invalid. 

The court also rejected the petition filed by her husband who had sought a stay on the domestic violence case filed against him by Nida Khan. During a hearing in the matter on July 18, the court categorically rejected the petition filed Nida Khan's husband Sheeran. 

Court also posted the matter for hearing on July 27. The court also ordered the authorities to probe the domestic violence case against Sheeren and his family members for allegedly harassing and torturing Nida Khan.

Nida Khan, who is associated with the prestigious Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat of Bareilly, had grabbed headlines when she approached the Supreme court and challenged the triple talaq given to her by her husband.

Narrating her ordeal, Nida alleged that she was forced to sleep, consummate marriage with her father-in-law and brother-in-law, under the Islamic practice of 'Nikah Halala', so that her husband could marry her again. 

Nida Khan had last year written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, urging him to abolish the 'evil' Islamic practice to dissolve the marriages solemnised as per the Sharia law. 

Nida Khan was married to Usman Raza Khan alias Anzu Miyan Sheeran of Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat family in 2015 but was divorced in 2016. Since then, she has been fighting for the rights of Muslim women. 

Despite her husband being a member of a prominent family of clerics, she contested the matter in civil court and won. Nida Khan runs an NGO to support women in Bareilly who, like her, have been divorced by their husbands by simply uttering the word “talaq” three times.

Nida Khan's case came as a major shot in the arm for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke out against “triple talaq” on a number of occasions.

Last summer, the Supreme Court banned the concept of instant divorce as “unconstitutional”.

The Centre also introduced a law under which Muslim men could be jailed for up to ten years who give instant divorce to their wives.

Despite the hue and cry over ''triple talaq'' and ''nikah halala'', the two still remain prevalent among the Muslim communities that follow the Hanafi Islamic School of Law, who argue that “triple talaq” exists in the Quran and is permissible as part of Shariah.

The Supreme Court is soon expected to give its opinion about “nikah halala”, which dictates that a man and woman divorced by “triple talaq” can only remarry if she first marries a second man, consummates the new marriage, and then seeks a new divorce.

Khan’s campaigning against both evil practices has irked several Muslim clerics who have issued fatwas ordered a social boycott of Khan unless she “apologises” for her remarks.