Baby Debnath, 29 years old lady
and daughter of late Haren Chandra Debnath, is a resident of Arjunpur village
under the jurisdiction of police station of Gazole in Malda district. The
following is a harrowing tale of an innocent girl who has joined the bandwagon
of unfortunate girls betrayed by the saga of love jihad. According to her own
testimony, Mahbul Alam, son of Habiruddin Sarkar inhabiting the same village,
promised her a job seven years back from today. Under his sway she went to
several places under one false pretext or the other. She was also compelled to
gratify his carnal desires that led to her pregnancy. When Baby confronted her
with her situation, Mahbul assured to marry her and also to let her follow
religion. Within the next few days, a nikahnama (Islamic marriage) took place
where her name was changed to Baby Sultana without her own knowledge! But when
she gave birth to a girl child dashing Mahbul’s hopes for a son, life quickly
turned into a hell for her.
Mahbul Alam, unlike her previous
experiences, appeared as a tyrant now. He brushed aside his solemn promises
made before marriage and asked Baby to convert into Islam. This was just the
beginning and with each passing day, this pressure continued to rise. Whenever
she refused to convert to a Muslim, Baby was thrashed mercilessly. Mahbul was
equally helped by Maleka Bibi, Mahbul’s mother, and the joint atrocity knew no
bounds for poor Baby. At last, she gave in and agreed for conversion. But this
accord failed to impress Mahbul; he was more interested to dispose of Baby. He
planned to take Baby to another state and sell her off to the flesh trade. When
Baby heard Mahbul to discuss this secret plan to someone in telephone, she
refused to accompany him. Thus began the second spate of inhuman torture for
Baby and she was completely devastated both mentally and physically. It was around 10.30 pm on 25th May when
Mahbul started to batter Baby with a large wooden stick that had thorns made of
iron. She sustained heavy injuries but even this failed to evoke any sympathy;
Mahbul went on admonishing and even attempted to strangulate her. She was also
told to consume poison and free Mahbul. To save herself, shattered Baby
Debnath returned to her paternal residence next day after a gap of several
years. She was admitted to Gazole hospital by her relatives. Later, a formal
complaint was lodged by her against Mahbul Alam to the police station of Gajol
demanding justice. But no interrogation has taken place yet as Mahbul Alam is
an influential leader of Trinamool Congress in the locality.
