Musician faces bigamy case

<div class="section1"><div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -5"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="33.5%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e6e6e6=""> <div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><img src="/photo/775650.cms" alt="/photo/775650.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">MUMBAI: Even as the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board acts on its intention to phase the triple <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">talaq</span> over three months, an aggrieved Muslim wife has moved a Mumbai court for her rights.Sema Khan, a German national, who was posted a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">talaqnama</span> last month by her Indian husband of four years, filed a case of bigamy against him at the Andheri metropolitan magistrate''s court on Monday.<br /><br />Given the people involved — Sema''s husband, Raza Ali Khan, is the grandson of legendary vocalist Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and the woman he subsequently ‘married'' is Neelima Azim, actress and mother of upcoming star Shahid Kapoor — the case has overtones of Page 3. But the issue involved is as grim as they come.<br /><br />Sema, a nurse, says she married Raza in June 2000 at a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">nikaah</span> ceremony as well as through civil procedure in both India and Germany. "In March this year, Raza began talking about moving to Mumbai to pursue his career," says Sema. "He came here on April 12, and we were in touch over telephone everyday. Then in May he suddenly told me he couldn''t live with me any longer and became totally incommunicado."<br /><br />Desperate, Sema came to Mumbai on May 22, and with the help of a friend, tracked down Raza. "I pleaded with him to at least tell me what the problem was," she says. "All he said was, ‘why have you come here when I told you I have nothing more to do with you?'' ‘'' Subsequently, when I collapsed on account of stress and had to be hospitalised, he did speak to me, but only reiterated that everything was over and I should go back to Germany. He then continued to dodge me, and on June 18, I received a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">talaqnama</span> by post from Calcutta. The next day, I found out from the newspapers that my husband had got married to another woman."<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Next: </span><a href="/articleshow/msid-775434,curpg-2.cms" target="_blank">Seven years imprisonment for bigamy cases</a><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Sema filed a police complaint on June 9 at the Santa Cruz police station and a criminal case of bigamy at the Andheri court. Majlis, an organisation that fights for women''s rights, has taken up her case. Says the lawyer fighting the case, "Since Sema and Raza also had a civil marriage in Calcutta under the Special Marriage Act, Raza is committing bigamy by marrying someone else without divorcing Sema first. Under Section 494 of IPC, a person convicted of bigamy faces imprisonment up to seven years."<br /><br />Women''s rights activists who have been working on the issue of the triple <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">talaq</span> have a lot to say about it. "The media has created the impression that the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board is the final authority and that Muslim women have no recourse to the courts," says Flavia Agnes of Majlis. "That isn''t true. There have been several court rulings, including Supreme Court rulings, on the issue, which say that before you give a talaq you have to have arbitration, settle the economic aspect and so on. That''s my position on it.<br /><br />A man shouldn''t be allowed to divorce his wife in the privacy of his house — he has to do it before a court and two witnesses and follow all the procedures. Nikahnamas or marriage contracts have to be standardised and not left to the whims and fancies of individual <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">kazis</span>. This will save Muslim women a lot of heartache."</div> </div>