Lucknow: A 40-year-old woman from Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh was given triple talaq by her husband through a WhatsApp message after she refused to yield to his pressure to take Rs 40 lakh from her elder brother for donating one of her kidneys to him.
Tarannum, a resident of Bauriyahi village, lodged an FIR on Wednesday evening against her husband Abdul Rashid (44), who works in Saudi Arabia.
Circle officer (Sadar) Shilpa Verma said Abdul had been booked under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, along with Dowry Prohibition Act and IPC section 498 A (subjecting woman to cruelty), among other provisions.
The practice of triple talaq was declared illegal and unconstitutional in India four years ago, with the 2019 Act providing for a jail term up to three years.
Tarannum was married to Abdul Rashid of Jaitapur village in 2003. Later, he went to Saudi Arabia to eke out a livelihood. The couple have no children.
According to police, Tarannum’s brother Mohammed Shakir had suffered kidney failure and was undergoing treatment in Mumbai. To save her brother’s life, she agreed to donate her kidney.
Tarannum said in her complaint that she had taken her husband’s consent for donating the kidney. The transplant was carried out at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital about five months ago.
After she was discharged and returned home, Abdul started putting pressure on her to take Rs 40 lakh from her brother in lieu of the kidney, Tarannum alleged. “When I refused, he pronounced ‘triple talaq’ through WhatsApp,” her complaint said.
