Is Legal Justice Enough?

Imrana, the brave 29-year old mother of five had wonmany battles on her own, but further vindication followed today when theMuzaffarnagar Sessions Court held her father-in-law, 70-year old Ali Mohammed,guilty of raping her on June 6, 2005.

District and Sessions Judge R D Nimesh pronounced Ali Mohammed guilty ofraping 29-year-old Imrana, a resident of Charthawal village in Uttar Pradesh, ina courtroom packed with mediapersons, social activists and community members.

The judge gave 70-year-old Mohammed a 10-year prison term and directed him topay compensation of Rs 8,000 to Imrana. On a separate charge of criminalintimidation, Mohammed was sentenced to three years in prison and fined Rs3,000.

Mohammed remained silent through the proceedings and spoke briefly only tosay that he was incapable of committing such a crime. His counsel Subash Arorasaid an appeal would be filed in the Allahabad High Court against the trialcourt's verdict.

Imrana's case had outraged not only the Muslimcommunity but had caused a national furore when within a week of her rape, thevillage panchayat had declared her marriage to her husband, Noor Ilahi,illegal—directing her to treat her husband as a son, and that she could notlive with him anymore.

But her ordeal did not end there. The ulema at Deoband moved in, formallystating the Shariat position: such a marriage is invalid. As the media and thecommunity went into overdrive, and it became a hot potato, Deoband retracted,saying it had only expressed a 'hypothetical' point of law. But in its effect,it had already assumed the force of a fatwa, taken as religious diktat.

Already thrown out of the village, humiliated and having to move to herparents' house in Kukramandi, where too she came under tremendous pressurebecause of the Deoband fatwa, she decided to fight back, filed a policecomplaint against Mohammed Ali and had him arrested for rape. "I wanted toput my father-in-law behind bars," she had told Outlook last year.She even agreed to go for medical investigation when she found out that her caseagainst her father-in-law would not stand in court sans a medical report.

Police registered a case under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminalintimidation) of the IPC against Mohammed after arresting him. Police also fileda case against him on June 30, 2005 with a medical report and recorded Imrana'sstatement before a magistrate. Mohammed had been in judicial custody since June16, 2005, three days after he was arrested for the rape.

Charges were framed against the accused on December 30, 2005. Six witnesses,including Imrana, her brother Imran, Shashi Gupta, the doctor who gave themedical report and judicial magistrate S K Jaiswal, deposed for the prosecution.One witness, Munna, deposed for the defence.

Defence lawyer Subhash Arora sought Mohammed's acquittal due to lack ofevidence and Imrana's purported statement that her father-in-law had beenunsuccessful in his attempt to rape her. Arora argued that Mohammed was falselyimplicated in the matter following a property dispute.

But even the conviction for Mohammed today will notbring the curtains down on this case as Muslim clerics have already issuedstatements against the verdict and demanded that her husband, Nur Ilahi, mustleave his wife Imrana, giving a new twist to her travails. The chairman of theShariat court of Muzzaffarnagar, Maulana Imran, said Nur Ilahi should leave hiswife despite the fact that the verdict was delivered by a civil court and thematter was not tried by the Shariat court.

A member of the Shariat court, Mufti Zulfiqar, also supported the chairman'sview and said, "He should leave Imrana." Ahsan Kasmi, a mufti ofleading Islamic seminary Darul-uloom Deoband, too said Nur Ilahi shouldimmediately leave his wife.

Mufti Habibur Rehman, in-charge of the fatwa department at Darul-uloomDeoband, who earlier issued a fatwa in Imrana's case, refused to comment. Hesaid a response could be issued only if a written request was submitted to him.

Thankfully, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has welcomed the court'sverdict and stated the stand taken by some clerics that Imrana should havemarried her father-in-law went against the tenets of Islam. Khalid Rashid,a member of the AIMPLB, welcomed the punishment given to Imrana's father-in-law."According to the AIMPLB and the Shariat, the victim cannot marry a personwho has raped her. No one can accept such a fatwa," Rashid told reporters.

But the real test still awaits Imrana. Her husband has only said that he isconcerned about his father. Imrana has won the battle in court, but the realbattle remains to be fought at the community level where she will have to dealwith hostile views, as those expressed by the clerics Her mother-in-lawwants to protect her convicted husband. Clearly, Imrana needs not just legaljustice but continuing courage and support from the divided community.