Love gone sour: Indian woman’s fairytale cut short

[sajan]

This is called Love Jihad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[notsuperstitious]

Bumping this six month old thread because the inevitable has happened. When I read the news 6 months ago, I felt sad for the woman and what she must be going through in Pakistan. I knew pak authorities would not help her, and now she is killed by the same mofo husband.

Indian-origin woman killed by husband in Pakistan: family - India - IBNLive

Indian-origin woman killed by husband in Pakistan: family

Ahmedabad: An Indian-origin woman hailing from Ahmedabad was allegedly shot dead by her Pakistani husband in Karachi in December, her family members on Thursday claimed.

Shirley Ann Hodges (39), who after conversion had become Shabanm Khan, was killed by her husband Gul Mohammad Khan on December 4 in Karachi, her brother Noel Hodges alleged. "We came to know about the incident only yesterday. Our entire family is shell-shocked," Hodges said.

Karachi police had registered a case against Gul Mohammad Khan at Shah Latif police station and he had been arrested, Hodges said, adding that he spoke to the investigating officer over phone late on Wednesday night

Indian women should think twice about what kind of society they are getting into.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Shabnam Khan’s death: Making a murder sound like a routine act – The Express Tribune Blog

Shabnam Gul Khan passed away on December 4, 2012, having been murdered by her husband Gul Mohammad Khan in Murghi Khana, Karachi. The couple had a love marriage in 1998, in India and returned to Pakistan together in 2000.

She was an Indian citizen of Christian faith and was formerly known as Shirley Ann Hodges.

In the two years that the couple spent in India after marriage, they lived happily and had a daughter. When she returned to Pakistan, her husband assured her that they would visit India frequently but this never happened.

On arrival, she discovered that her husband already had a wife and six children. She was locked away in the top floor of her husband’s house in Karachi.

Shabnam was tortured and beaten mercilessly. This torturing was done not only by her husband but also his first wife and children. She was kept under strict purdah and her husband took away her passport.

During the course of an internship at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Karachi, I came across her case. Having learnt of her unfortunate death, I visited Shah Latif Police Station to obtain a copy of the relevant FIR registered against the perpetrator.

Members from the HRCP team had visited Gul Muhammad Khan in the past, but he did not allow them access to his second wife, the late Shabnam Gul Khan.

On arrival at the police station, my colleagues and I asked for copies of the FIR registered against the perpetrator, the husband. We were given a number for the investigating officer and rushed back to our NGO as there was nothing more that could be done to help us.

Any question asked regarding the case was not answered which was fair enough. Then on further insistence, we obtained the FIR numbers and were told there was a charge against the husband under section 302 and 13-D of the Pakistan Penal Code as he had allegedly murdered his wife and was caught when in possession of a weapon.

The visit so far was standard and things were handled quite professionally I thought.

When a brief discussion started about this and how she should have been rescued earlier with the duty officer, he said some words which made me think that Pakistan has not changed with the changing times. In Pakistan people seem to use religion as an excuse for most things. They pick and choose bits of Islam to their convenience and unfortunately, I myself am also guilty of this act. However, the words uttered by this man left me stone cold.

He said that just like the Holy Prophet (pbuh) died when it was time for him to do so, so did this woman. It was Allah (SWT’s) will.
It was as if he was using religion to justify murder!

What he forgot, though, was that Allah (SWT) tells us to tie our camels. Our religion preaches goodness and helping others is an obvious facet of this. In this case, this translated to doing all that was possible in practice to get Shabnam Khan away from her perpetrator. Instead of mourning her death, the casual attitude of the duty officer was shocking.

How could someone look away from something so horrendous so dismissively? I wondered if it was really necessary to take the ‘human’ out of yourself to do your job. I agree the officer may have seen too many people dying, but there was not an iota of regret on his face. I don’t understand how a woman who was brutally murdered and tortured deserved not the smallest bit of emotion from him. He spoke as though torturing and murdering a woman was an inevitable happening. This is what was so distressing to me.

I realise that many people die in Karachi every day but we must not let their deaths go unnoticed. We must make every death count and use the effect it has on us as fuel to try and take whatever steps are in our abilities to improve the situation.

I hope and pray that others in our country do not look upon murder with such a blaze attitude and exhibit the horror and sadness this story deserves.

Let’s not lose the human being in all of us.

The guy will go scott free, if not showered with rose petals for trying his best to convert a kaffir and then murdering her when she turned apostate.

Where are the fake feminists on the forum with their convenient hindu religion bashing?

 

[Roybot]

RIP, its a shame that neither of our countries could do anything to save her, despite her desperate plea for help.

 

[baajey]

well....what did she expect??? marry a money lender and get wowed.
this incident shows the "aukat" of women in south asia.
pakistanis here, say that this article is shyte, the standards of torture is different for the victim and the perpetrator ( what kind of middle aged mentality is this???? ), we give our women full independence, she was following purdah......and then Allah decided that her life is over on earth (as if her life was a bed of roses), the husband killed her. all hail.
indians, on the other hand, jump in to show the ugly side of pakistan, conveniently forgetting the deep shyte their society is in.
we have scores of female gods, kaali, saraswati, laxmi, ganga etc etc etc, for whom we go gaga with shraddha n all, but when it comes to real life, indians are infamous rapists. chivalry got corrupted.



imo, this is a case of a woman stuck in the company of bad ppl. religion or nationality has nothing to do with it...almost.

 

[forcetrip]

well....what did she expect??? marry a money lender and get wowed.
this incident shows the "aukat" of women in south asia.
pakistanis here, say that this article is shyte, the standards of torture is different for the victim and the perpetrator ( what kind of middle aged mentality is this???? ), we give our women full independence, she was following purdah......and then Allah decided that her life is over on earth (as if her life was a bed of roses), the husband killed her. all hail.
indians, on the other hand, jump in to show the ugly side of pakistan, conveniently forgetting the deep shyte their society is in.
we have scores of female gods, kaali, saraswati, laxmi, ganga etc etc etc, for whom we go gaga with shraddha n all, but when it comes to real life, indians are infamous rapists. chivalry got corrupted.



imo, this is a case of a woman stuck in the company of bad ppl. religion or nationality has nothing to do with it...almost.

Almost is the correct answer. It is real sad hearing that these problems had been highlighted before and no one checked up on this problem. This guy manipulated religion to further his sick desires and hopefully will not get away with it.

 

[cyphercide]

well....what did she expect??? marry a money lender and get wowed.
this incident shows the "aukat" of women in south asia. this is a case of a woman stuck in the company of bad ppl. religion or nationality has nothing to do with it...almost.

Huh? This is somehow the fault of the hapless woman now? And religion had no part to play in this incident even with the purdah, polygamy, and the man explicitly using his religion to justify murder?

 

[baajey]

Huh? This is somehow the fault of the hapless woman now? And religion had no part to play in this incident even with the purdah, polygamy, and the man explicitly using his religion to justify murder?

yes, a little blame has to go to the lady.
was she a kid when she decided to leave everything for her love??? didnt she had the time or brains to find out what this person is upto??? ...even after falling in love. a person taking decisions without the help of the mind/brain is to be blamed for the consequences.
having said that, there shouldnt be any doubt that the husband was a moron. he used his religion to satisfy his evil whims....but u cant blame his religion for that.
to drive my point home better , which religion do u think the rapists of delhi belonged to ???? now can u blame religion for that.

 

[Dubious]

KARACHI: Once upon a time a young girl left her family and religion for the man she loved. After getting married, her husband flew her off to his land.

This land, however, was not far, far away and there was definitely no happily ever after: she, now, lives in Landhi, Karachi, locked away in a small room on the top floor of a house for the past 13 years.

All the terrible things that happen in fairy tales seem to be Shabnam Gul Khan’s reality.
Previously named Shirley Ann Hodges, she met Gul Muhammad Khan, a Pakistani money lender, in Ahmedabad, India, in the summer of 1997. They fell in love and got married.
Three years later, Gul flew Shabnam and their newborn daughter to meet his family in Pakistan, assuring her that they would return to India within six months.

However, as soon as Shabnam landed in Karachi, she was abruptly introduced to the nightmare her life would become: she was introduced to Gul’s first wife and six children; her Indian passport was seized; she was gifted a burqa and locked away on the top floor of her in-laws’ house.

Thirteen years since, Shabnam remains confined at the top floor of the house, and is not allowed any visitors. Her only contact with the outside world is through the internet and her mobile phone.

After this I stopped reading!

Seriously she has a mobile and an internet....The TORTURERS had enough brains to give her internet and a mobile -2 things which middle to upper class people own and KNOW HOW TO USE IT FOR HELP! Apparently the author forgot to be creative enough!

Huh? This is somehow the fault of the hapless woman now? And religion had no part to play in this incident even with the purdah, polygamy, and the man explicitly using his religion to justify murder?

Yes religion had nothing to do with it! IF a drunkard drives and crashes into another car no one sends the car to jail...They send the reckless driver!

RIP, its a shame that neither of our countries could do anything to save her, despite her desperate plea for help.

Just curious as to how come she didnt use her internet or phone to call for help?

 

[baajey]

After this I stopped reading!

Yes religion had nothing to do with it! IF an drunkard drives and crashes into another car no one sends the car to jail...They send the reckless driver!

u nailed it with this answer

 

[Dubious]

u nailed it with this answer

It just annoys me how ISLAM is dragged along with brainless to pea brained people!

 

[Roybot]

Just curious as to how come she didnt use her internet or phone to call for help?

She must have been scared. A woman, away from her family, home, country, she would have to think of the consequences if she had called police for help, what would happen to her kids.

 

[Dubious]

She must have been scared. A woman, away from her family, home, country, she would have to think of the consequences if she had called police for help, what would happen to her kids.

She didnt actually think of that when she left her family, home, country....

 

[Dubious]

Look, either there is a genetical problem with south Asian women in general or something else!

When in emotional distress, 2 things happen, a woman can plot sooo well, a guy would be afraid OR a woman breaks down and cries and becomes a vegetable!

Now this woman was lost midway like in a bollywood movie! Not exactly true in reality! Survival of the fittest should have kicked in!

 

[notsuperstitious]

She must have been scared. A woman, away from her family, home, country, she would have to think of the consequences if she had called police for help, what would happen to her kids.

She did ask for help, the man used religion and then the pakistani police were helpless.

Meanwhile, when the Quaidabad police questioned Gul about his wife, he filed a petition in the Sindh High Court last month, accusing them of harassment.

“We observe strict purdah in our family, which is why Shabnam is not allowed to go out,” said Gul, a man of Afghan origin, who owns an electronics shop. He further claimed that he had done a “great deed” by converting a non-Muslim to Islam.

Besides, the attitude of the police is well documented in the express tribune article posted under #18.