Hi, I am Waseem from Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. I was married in March 2011. It was an Arranged marriage. Her parents approached my father and on one interaction we got married. Her father was a nice person so we did not verify her family details.

Soon after our marriage, she started fighting with my family over trivial issues. She wouldn’t take any advice from my parents and always went for a clash with them. She even tried to leave our home or even threatened to commit suicide over petty issues. What was surprising was that she used to give us a threat in the name of Circle Inspector of her nearest police station. When issues started to flare up between my mom and her, I took her to Hyderabad with me.

I thought everything would be alright then but things soon took a different turn. By this time she had conceived so my joys knew no bounds. But that joy was shortlived. Soon, she had to terminate her pregnancy for some complications and she was completely broken down due to this.

I was all alone in Hyderabad and didn’t have any option but to call in my mother to take care of her. But in-spite of my mother taking all care of her, she again started misbehaving with my mother.

My mom was completely heartbroken. She didn’t expect this from her. Even I was shattered by these relationship issues. There was no solution in sight so when her parents came to take her back with them we didn’t object. We gave priority to her well-being over everything else.

After sometime she joined me again in Hyderabad and was pregnant soon. But soon after she started complaining about health issues and went back to her maternal house. I thought it would be good for her and for the baby so happily agreed. But she didn’t seem to have any feeling towards my family. This was clear when she refused to come to our house for Bakri-Id celebration.

We were completely heartbroken as we wanted to celebrate with our new would be a family member.

My daughter was born after five months and doctors suggested complete bed rest for the mother. So she preferred staying with her parents. After three months when she had recovered fully and we were about to come back to Hyderabad, she started demanding for a divorce.

I was completely shocked by this demand and didn’t know what I could do. I begged, told her to focus on the well-being of our daughter and made her agree to come to Hyderabad.

But things have worsened by then and I didn’t have a clue. She started demanding for divorce very often and over petty issues. She started giving threats to the names of the CI and different local politicians.

Gradually, I lost all hopes on her and so decided to give her divorce. Every time I saw our little kid, every time I played with her, I cried silently. I hoped that our little angel would be happy with her mother.

Since there was no solution to our matrimonial issues, I gave in to her demands of divorce. I gave her Talaq following Islamic rituals and started living separately.

Soon I was awarded my wedding gift – a package of 498a, DV Act, 420 and CrPC 125.

Even though we cooperated with police from the beginning, the CI who was known to them used to call my father and me very frequently to police station. He knew very well, that I worked in Hyderabad and traveling to Anantapur would create problems in my job. Despite that, we had always cooperated with police even when the visit was only for showing our face to them.

On 23^rd June 2016, my father and I were called for a similar discussion to the police station. My father was asked to wait outside while I was taken inside CI’s chamber. I was surprised to see my in-laws there with my wife and daughter. During the discussion, the CI started forcing me to take my wife back from the PS. I tried to tell him that there was no provision in Islam to take back a wife after Talaq but he didn’t listen. I realized that he wouldn’t listen to me so I kept mum. Soon he started threatening me of beating me up.

I didn’t know what to do. My little daughter was looking at me with big eyes as she did not know what was happening. My wife and in-laws were staring at me with disgust. I couldn’t take those stares, I looked downwards.

Suddenly, the CI asked me to stand up and to remove my clothes. I couldn’t believe in my ears. I slowly stood up and was trembling in an unknown fear. I didn’t know what to do when two constables forcefully took off my clothes in front of my daughter. I was shuddering there naked up to my undies with my wife and in-laws eyes piercing every inch of my body.

Seeing me almost naked like this, my daughter started crying. Her first hero was standing there in his undies trying very hard to cover his private parts and avoiding eye contact with everyone. Poor kid didn’t have any option but to cry.

Soon the CI took out a rubber padded bat and started beating me in front of my kid and others. There were no outside marks but inside I was getting excruciating pain. I cried, cried and cried. I was treated no better than a dreaded criminal. My in-laws and my wife were all eyes and my little one didn’t stop crying.

After some time the CI stopped beating me and ordered me to dress up. I was not able to stand. There was hardly any mark outside but I was screeching from excruciating pain inside. After I dressed up, he called my father and advised him to make me understand to take my wife back in two days’ time.

My father didn’t know what happened inside the PS as he was outside. Since there were not visible scar he didn’t realize anything. I kept mum as I feared the worse consequences. My parents would have got a heart attack if they knew what happened in the police station. We returned home by 10:30 pm.

After that incident, I met DGP and Anantapur SP and complained against the CI. They assured action against him and I am still waiting for justice.

Was it only my abuse? wasn’t it abuse of my daughter too? Will she ever be able to remove the scar from her tender mind? My tears have dried today but not the unseen internal scars.

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