“Dowry is a curse” is something we have grown up hearing. But, in reality, no concrete measures have been taken to do away with this horrible custom that forces helpless people to take their lives every now and then.
In yet another incident, a young and innocent woman threw her life away by jumping into a river in India.
TimesNow, an Indian English daily has reported that the 23-year-old Ayesha was harassed by her husband and in-laws for dowry. She committed suicide by jumping into the Sabarmati river from the riverfront walkway in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Thursday morning, after recording a heart-wrenching suicide note video on her phone.
The video, going viral on the internet, shows Ayesha introducing herself with a brave smile on her face, trying to conceal the pain of betrayal.
In the initial part of the video, Ayesha says no one else is to be held responsible for her extreme step, but as the video progresses, her voice trembles and the reason for her emotional breakdown becomes visible.
Let’s take a look at an excerpt from her video before moving on.
“Hello Assalamo Alayekkum, my name is Aisha (a brief pause), Arif Khan. Whatever I am going to do is my decision and nobody has pressured me for this. I have nothing to say now. Understand that the almighty gave me a short life,” she says in her final video.
Ayesha continues:
Arif (her husband) wants freedom. I will give him freedom. I am happy that I am going to meet Allah. I’ll ask him what my mistake was.
23 year old Ayesha releases this Video before Jumping in the #SabarmatiRiver #Ahmedabad! Just listen to this poignant misery of ill treatment at the hands of the In-Laws and a Ruthless Husband! Are We even Humans? When millions of Women are treated in such Tragic Fashion! pic.twitter.com/sPQf9za7Pp
— zafar sareshwala (@zafarsareshwala) February 28, 2021
She adds:
She adds: “I have learned one thing; if you want to love, let it be two-sided. Nothing can be gained from one-sided love).
“I am like the winds; I want to flow… I am happy today… Remember me in your prayers. Don’t know if I will go to heaven or not)” were her last words before she left this mortal world.
The news of her suicide through her video sent shock waves across the country. Surprisingly, the Indian press, often biased in its approach towards the Muslim community of India, took this incident seriously and dug it out further.
It was revealed upon investigation that Ayesha, who married Arif Khan in 2018, had long been facing harassment from her in-laws for dowry.
After a scuffle and receiving a thrashing from her husband, she returned to her father’s house in December 2018. The community intervened and she returned to her husband after his father paid Rs. 1.5 lacs to her husband. Even this couldn’t change her fate and the beatings and tortures became a regular occurrence. Thus, Ayesha returned to her parents once again.
Ayesha’s was a love marriage and she could not bear the separation from her husband despite all the emotional turmoil she went through in his house and decided to end her life.
However, before taking this extreme step, she recorded an emotional video and sent it to her husband. Instead of calming her down, he told Ayesha to do whatever she wanted and that he wanted ‘freedom’ from her. Upon this, Ayesha jumped into the Sabarmati River to end her life.
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