A mother of four, alleged to have been killed by her husband’s family in Bihar about three weeks ago, was found safe in the company of her boyfriend in Delhi on Friday.
Her father-in-law has been in jail for her ‘murder’ ever since the 22-year-old eloped.
Her husband, meanwhile, was forced to abandon their children and stay underground to escape being jailed. While the husband can return home and his father-in-law likely to be released from jail soon, the woman Zeba Khan is not liable to be charged with any crime, said police.
“Practically, only the woman’s father can be booked under Section 182 of the Indian Penal Code for providing false information. But it depends on whether he was aware that his daughter was alive,” a police officer involved in the operation said.
The woman’s father Abdul Tareek had approached police in Bihar’s Runni Saidpur to register a case of murder against Zeba’s husband and in-laws on December 6 this year.
Facing an arrest, the woman’s husband Sheikh Jalal immediately escaped from his house, but his father Sheikh Munazir was nabbed and sent to judicial custody.
The local police in east Delhi’s Bhajanpura on Friday morning received a tip-off that Zeba was alive and staying with a man in a rented accommodation in Noor-e-Elahi. A police team conducted a raid and detained the two, a release said.
While her lover Mohd Irshad, 22, was let off, Zeba was sent to a woman’s home and will be handed over to her parents when they arrive.
“Irshad and Zeba were having an affair for the past three years. Zeba’s husband was unaware of the affair,” said the officer. Zeba was married to Jalal in 2006. She was only 14 then and her husband was four years older to her.
“The woman was not happy with her husband ever since their marriage. The presence of their four children did little to strengthen their relationship,” said the officer.