Key Highlights A cleric is in a fix after his wife demanded that he should shave or else she would commit suicide

Arshad has asked the DM to arrange for counselling for his wife



He fears that he would be blamed if his wife takes the extreme step



Meerut: Thirty-six-year old Arshad Badruddin, a cleric here, is in a fix after his wife demanded that he should shave or else she would commit suicide. He even claimed that his wife was using a smartphone to chat with 'gair mard' (other men) against his wishes. Arshad has also asked the DM to arrange for counselling for his wife. He fears that he would be blamed if his wife takes the extreme step.

In his complaint to DM Pankaj Yadav, the cleric stated: “I am a 'pesh imam' (who leads prayers at a mosque) and I am a true follower of Islam. I got married to Sahana of Pilkhuwa town in Hapur district in 2001. Soon after our marriage, my wife demanded that I should shave and not keep beard as she likes clean-shaven men like Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. She has also brought a smartphone and chats with gair mard all day and night.“

Arshad said he tried to convince his wife (who is now 33 years) often and that clerics like him should keep their beards but she is adamant. “We have four children, and yet she insists on her demand. I have also told her many times to curtail the use of mobile phone as I fear that our children will also pick the bad habit and it would become difficult to discipline them. I am irritated by her behaviour. When I scolded her recently, she started crying and threatened to commit suicide after poisoning our children,“ the cleric wrote in his letter to the district magistrate.

Arshad also stated in the letter to the DM that recently, on the occasion of Eid, she wanted to buy western clothes for the children and herself. “When I refused to accompany her for Eid shopping, she quarrelled with me and again threatened to kill herself,“ he added. “On the next day of Eid, she locked herself in a room. When I peeped inside, I found that she was trying to hang herself with a rope from the ceiling fan. I immediately called other family members and broke open the door. Luckily, we managed to save her. When we asked her why she was taking the extreme step, she kept mum and stopped talking to us,“ Arshad wrote in his letter to the DM.

TOI spoke to additional district magistrate Dinesh Chandra, who said, “We have sent the copy of the complaint to the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for a probe into the matter.“

