New Delhi, Dec 29: A young Afghan woman, claiming to
have been duped into wedlock by an already married Indian Army
doctor, on Monday met Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking his
permission to prosecute him.
A resident of Kabul, Sabra Khan, was assured by the Home
Minister that he would look into the matter and initiate
appropriate action, her lawyer claimed.
"We gave a copy of the representation that we earlier
made to the Home Ministry and he said he would look into the
matter," said Sabra's lawyer Raveendra Singh Garhia.
Efforts to reach the doctor, who works at the Army
Hospital in Pithoragarh could not succeed, but an army
spokesperson here said a joint police and military
investigation has been initiated into the case.
According to Sabra, she worked with the Indian Mission in
Kabul, when she married Major Dr Chandrashekhar Pant for whom
she had worked as a translator in 2006.
The doctor had converted to Islam to marry her and
changed his name to Himmat Khan but did not reveal his actual
marital status, claimed Sabra, who is in India for the past
one month to seek justice.
"I was working for him as a translator in Kabul, where he
was posted at the Indira Gandhi Hospital run by the Indian
mission, when he approached my parents seeking to marry me,"
Sabra told reporters here.
Sabra said she came to India last month and went to meet
the Major at the Army hospital at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand,
but did not get a favourable response from him.
The police, with whom she registered a complaint,
expressed inability to take any further action in the matter
without the permission of the Central government as the
offence has been committed outside India's territory.
Sabra claimed that 15 days after staying with her, the
doctor left for India on a posting.
"I received calls from him till six months after he had
left, and during the last call he told me that he has a wife
and two children in India and that I should forget him and
proceed with my life," the Afghan woman said.
"I do not want such incidents to be repeated with other
women in my country. Therefore, I want to take the case to the
court and seek punishment for the Major," she added.
Supported by some independent organisations here, she
also registered a complaint with the National Commission for
Women, which is yet to respond to her plea.
"We are assisting her because it is a clear case of
injustice and fraud," said Sandeep Singh, President JNUSU,
which is assisting the woman.
Bureau Report