Father of the deceased revealed that his son married the Hindu girl as she threatened to commit suicide if he didn’t marry her.
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – It’s being made out a case of revenge by a father for the rape of his daughter. But the truth is not far to seek. 30-year-old Dilshad Hussain, a Muslim, and a Hindu woman fell in love with each other and eloped to Hyderabad to get married. Later, he was shot dead by her father, a retired BSF officer, at a Gorakhpur court on Friday in a typical case of honour killing.
After the killing, most of the news outlets projected the incident as “the father of the rape victim” killing “the rapist” or “rape accused” of his daughter. These reports deliberately sidelined another version of the story. However, a few days later, the facts related to the case started tumbling out on the social media established honour killing as the motive behind the coldblooded murder.
To know the details of the case that has become talk of the town by now, Clarion India spoke to Dilshad’s father, Tahir Hussain. Dismissing the allegation of rape against Dilshad as false, the bereaved father said his son married the woman, daughter of Bhagwat Nishad, in an Arya Samaj temple in Telangana on 13 February 2020.
Tahir Hussain, who hails from Bihar’s Muzaffarnagar, had a cycle-repair shop right in front of Nishad’s house in Barhalganj of Gorakhpur. “Members of our families were frequenting to each other’s house. Nishad even bought a bike for Dilshad to drop her daughter at her college. We lived like a family. Meanwhile, Dilshad and Nishad’s daughter fell in love with each other. Her parents knew about it,” Tahir revealed.
According to Tahir, the alliance was not acceptable to him as he was not ready to allow his son to marry a Hindu woman in view of the religious difference. But the woman insisted on the marriage holding out an ultimatum to commit suicide if Dilshad didn’t marry her.
Eventually, they eloped to Hyderabad and got married. Nishad followed them to Hyderabad to bring his daughter back, but she refused to go with him saying as an adult she is mature enough to go with her decision. Incensed by his failure to persuade his daughter against marrying Dilshad, a vindictive Nishad filed a case of abduction and rape of his daughter against him. In his FIR, he also claimed that his daughter was a minor.
In February last year, the police arrested Dilshad from Hyderabad after booking him under various sections of IPC 363, 366 and 376 (kidnapping and rape) and the POCSO Act. Later, he was granted bail. On 21 December, when he came to testify in the case, Nishad shot him dead.
“Before leaving for the court to attend the hearing in the case, Dilshad called Nishad and said, ‘We would come together again if you rightly testify in the case on 21 December. If you don’t, I could be sent to jail again.’ Nishad knew where Dilshad was at Gorakhpur court. He went there and shot him dead,” said Tahir.
He disclosed that the mother of the woman had no objection to the marriage, but her maternal uncle was against the match. In the beginning, the father too was ready for the alliance. But later, strangely enough he took a U-turn and started opposing it.
The issue related to Dilshad’s marriage with Nishad’s daughter came to light after the marriage certificate and photographs surfaced on the social media. The documents showed to have married according to Hindu rituals. Dilshad even turned a Hindu assuming Dilraj as his new name.
Gorakhpur activist Dhirnedra Pratap, who raised the issue on the social media, presented a screenshot of the bail order given to Dilshad in the case. In the bail order, Judge Rajiv Gupta noted that the woman had fallen in love with Dilshad and subsequently married him. Gupta also noted that the birth date of the woman is mentioned 5 December 1998 which shows the she is a 21-year-old and hence a major, not a minor as claimed by her father.
