Patna: A Muslim school teacher in Bihar was forced to leave her house by her husband who felt she had violated the Shariat law by participating in a Independence Day function, police said Saturday.
Nazia Khatoon, a teacher in a government-run middle school in Begusarai, about 125 km from here, was driven out of the house along with her two minor sons by her husband Umar Khan, a police official posted in Chatra district in neighbouring Jharkhand.
Khatoon Friday approached the Begusarai superintendent of police and sought justice.
“My husband has been threatening me to leave my school teacher job or he will desert me. He forced me to leave my house after I attended the Independence Day function,” she said.
She told the police that her husband was torturing her for more dowry. She was married in 2003.
Begusarai Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar said police have taken her case seriously.
“We will try to resolve the issue. If he does not change his mind, a legal action will be initiated against him,” Kumar said.
Muslim priests and scholars said Umar Khan was misusing the name of the Muslim Personal Law or the Shariat law to force her out of the house.
“Hoisting the national flag and participating in the function is not against the Shariat.
“It is merely an excuse to desert his wife, while the actual reason may be something else,” Mufti Mohammad Khalid Hussain Qausmi said.