Mumbai: Man booked for sending wife triple talaq on WhatsApp

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The Malwani police have booked a 23-year-old man, Afnaan Patel, for allegedly sending his wife a triple talaq message on WhatsApp. According to the police, the 21-year-old woman married Afnaan on December 27, 2023. As per her statement to the cops, Afnaan would ignore her, preferring to pass the time chatting on his mobile phone. In January, when she checked his phone, she found he had been chatting with another woman. "When confronted, Afnaan admitted to having an affair and expressed his desire to leave the woman, often threatening to divorce her," the statement read.

In the month of Ramzan, while the woman was at her parents' house, Afnaan sent her a WhatsApp message with the words "talaq talaq talaq". Again, on May 16, he said "talaq" more than 10 times in front of his parents. The woman's father stated, "I had married my daughter to my sister's only son. He has ruined my life. He should also realise what the punishment is for ruining someone's life. It was my daughter who filed the complaint with the police."

The complainant is a teacher by profession and the eldest of four daughters. Her father claimed he had agreed to the marriage at his sister's insistence. "The marriage happened with the consent of both families, and everything was done after due diligence. The boy himself had done the shopping for the girl. If his mind was elsewhere, he should not have agreed," said the father.

Afnaan used to deliver food for a living but now works in a mall. The complainant said he would chat and video call another woman all night. When she told his mother, instead of scolding him, the latter told him to marry someone else and advised the girl to leave him, promising to arrange another marriage for her. "I have only one demand from the government: the accused should receive the harshest punishment. The girl endured everything without mentioning it to us. Whenever we called her, her in-laws would tell us that she was okay," he added.

A police officer told mid-day, "On the woman's complaint, we registered a case under various sections of the IPC as well as sections the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, which criminalises triple talaq.