Srinagar (J&K): Saba Rehman (25) a resident of Srinagar's Batamaloo held a protest in the Press Colony area appealing that her jailed husband, Irfan Ahmed Mir, be released from the Udhampur prison, claiming that he's innocent. She laments that she hasn't her husband in 3-years nor has he seen their daughter. Mir was arrested when his daughter was just a month old. On May 31, Sabah had even tried to commit suicide by jumping into the Jhelum River from the Budshah Bridge but was rescued by security personnel. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Saba narrated the ordeal she had to face post her husband's arrest and the reasons behind why she attempted the drastic step of ending her life.
Saba, says that she was married to Irfan Ahmed Mir, a resident of the Tral area of South Kashmir's Pulwama district around five years ago and as her husband was a truck driver by profession, he often used to be away from home. She alleged that her mother-in-law used to ill-treat her and after her husband's return, decided to stay with her parents in Batamaloo since she was eight-month pregnant. However, after a month, she received a call saying that her husband had been arrested as some illegal goods were recovered from his car, Saba added, claiming that she doesn't know what was recovered from her husband's truck and why he was arrested. Meanwhile, Saba's in-laws have claimed that they never harassed her and that they are still ready to welcome her back.
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"I had no option left. I didn't even have enough money to travel to Udhampur to meet my husband. I was feeling suffocated. I was not able to manage my daughter's expenses. Even though my brother bears my expenses at the moment, that is not enough for all of us. Once my daughter fell ill and I had no money for her treatment. I was left with no other choice, but to beg. I wore a burqa (veil) and went to all the shrines in the city for begging. Hence, I tried to commit suicide, but the security forces there stopped me," she said.
In response to a question whether she had ever spoken to her husband during these years, Saba said, "We have spoken twice. The first time was when I was informed that my husband had been arrested and the second time my husband was not feeling well. I request the administration to release my husband as soon as possible. I don't need anything else. Every time our daughter meets with her cousins and their parents, they enquire about her father." She added that Irfan had been suffering from a heart-related ailment.
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Wasim, brother of Irfan Mir told ETV Bharat over the phone that the latter had been in jail in a narcotics case earlier too, and that they got him released after having sold their land. "He was fine for some time...then he married this girl from Batamaloo without having taken the family's consent. They live with us for a few months, but then she (Saba) started pressurising my brother to move out. My mother never agreed. Despite that, they moved out and shifted to Batamaloo," Wasim said.
He further added saying, "My brother was arrested from outside Jammu and Kashmir in a narcotics case. And my sister-in-law wants us to sell land again to get my brother released. We can't do that now because we don't have anyone."
