Ishrat Jahan, one of the five petitioners in the landmark Supreme Court verdict which pronounced instant triple talaq invalid, is facing social boycott and character assassination back home in Howrah, West Bengal. Jahan has been allegedly facing social boycott and insinuations and is being ostracised by her in-laws and neighbours in Howrah’s Pilkhana.
30 year old Jahan’s husband divorced her in 2015 over the phone from Dubai and allegedly took away her 4 children. In her fight for social justice, she has faced financial losses and now she has to face abuses as she is called “dirty woman”, “enemy of men” and “anti-Islam”.
The Supreme Court verdict seems to have opened floodgates of abuses for Jahan as her in-laws and neighbours have stopped talking to her even as she faces insults.
Ishrat lives in Howrah’s Pilkhana in West Bengal in a house her husband purchased from the dowry she had brought in 2004. Her husband’s elder brother and his family also live there. Jahan now feels unsafe staying in the house and says after such a long battle she does not have strength to fight them anymore.
She has since removed the naqab and shown her face to the world. “I realised that I am not a victim anymore. I want other women to see me and understand that if an ordinary woman like me can fight for her rights, so can they,” said Jahan, reported Times of India explaining the reason why she decide to remove her naqab.
Jahan adds that just a court verdict will not change anything unless the society and community brings about a change where people help a vulnerable and helpless victim instead of assassinating her character. She says instead of coming out in support of her, people have mocked and ridiculed her for standing up for justice.
This is indeed true, since even TMC Minister has vocally opposed the Supreme Court verdict and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has held an uncomfortable silence on the verdict.