By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission has asked the city police not to harass Neha Fatima, a Hindu girl who converted to Islam, and her husband Syed Abdul Sami alias Fahad.
The commission asked the city police not to interfere with love marriages in which there is consent from both the bride and the groom.
The couple on January 17 approached the commission alleging that they faced threat to their lives from the police and anti-social elements and sought protection.
Neha, 19, told the commission chairman Justice Subhashan Reddy and member E. Ismail that the police were searching the houses of Sami’s relatives at various places in the city and harassing them.
Accompanied by Sami, 22, she told the commission that she converted to Islam and married Fahad out of her own wish and will and without any pressure. "I want to leave peacefully with my husband but some people are harassing us," said Neha, the daughter of Nand Kishore Singh, a builder and resident of Seethaphalmandi in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad.
"I am highly qualified and know what is good or bad for me. While in college I studied Islamic literature and got attracted to it. It was then that I decided to embrace Islam and met Sami who taught me the basic tenets of the religion. Later, we got married," she said in her representation.
She pointed out that her parents and other family members had lodged false complaints at two police stations against her and Sami. She alleged that police, without recording her statement, was harassing her and Sami.
"I urge the commission to protect our lives and provide police picket to stop this unlawful activity," she said.
She sought a direction to the police commissioner Balwinder Singh to provide protection for them. She urged that two policemen be deployed at their house and nobody be allowed to meet them without their permission.
Sami, who is a resident of Muslim-dominated New Mallepally in Hyderabad and deals in stocks, met Neha during their college days.
Neha, who was wearing a burqa told the commission that she embraced in the office of Ameer Amarat-e-Millat-e-Islamia Moulana Hameeduddin Auqil Hussami on February 12, 2007. They later married and registered the marriage with the State Wakf Board.
Neha said she embraced Islam as the Constitution of India has given every citizen a right to practise religion of his or her own choice. She pointed out that the Constitution has also given her right to marry the man of her choice.
Neha Fatima, earlier known as Neha Thakur, continued to live with her parents even after she embraced Islam and married Sami as she wanted to continue her post-graduation. However, a few months ago her parents came to know of this through her friends and reportedly starting pressurising her to marry a Hindu boy.
It was on December 15, 2007 that Neha left her parents’ house and started living with Sami in his house. The girl’s parents lodged a complaint with Chilkalguda police station alleging that she was missing with jewellery. The police then started harassing Sami’s relatives as the couple had moved to some safe place. Sami’s sister was pressurised by police to reveal their whereabouts.
Sami’s paternal uncle Mohammed Inayat Ali Khan told TwoCircles.net that Neha’s parents and other relatives made phone calls threatening that they would send goondas to lift Sami.
He said though they facilitated a meeting between Neha and her relatives and she made it clear that she embraced Islam and married Sami out of her own will, the harassment continued. When she wanted her parents to withdraw the false cases, they insisted that she first return home.
"We fear for the life of Sami. His mother is really worried because we have been hearing a lot about young Muslim boys being picked up by police and killed in fake encounters. We want protection," he said.
Sami’s father had passed away a few years ago.
Sami’s uncle said the family was also planning to approach court to seek protection. "We want that the court record the statement of Neha to settle the issue once for all," he said.
Sami’s family complained that the local Muslim public representatives had also failed to take up the case despite their repeated requests and representations.
The police officials were not ready to comment on the matter and they merely said the investigations were on into the complaint by Neha’s parents.
Amjadullah Khan Khalid, a corporator belonging to Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT), who accompanied the couple to the commission, registered his strong protest against the biased attitude of police officials. He hoped that the rights commission would come to the rescue of the couple.