Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

BAREILLY: Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ’s sister, a prominent social activist who runs an NGO working for women affected by triple talaq, was on Saturday afternoon waylaid by three men in a car in the middle of the city, and given death threats.

Farhat Naqvi , 35, who runs the Mera Haq Foundation , was on her way back home when the alleged incident happened, metres from the Chowki Chauraha police outpost here at 12:30 pm.

“I boarded an e-rickshaw near Choupla and was on my way towards Chowki Chauraha when I first spotted a car following me. The car soon pulled over and an unidentified man started hurling abuses at me. The car then closed in further, and the man threatened to kill me. There were three men in the car. The police outpost was close by, and I tried raising the alarm, but the men fled,” said Farhat.

“I am not certain why I was threatened, and the men did not give any details. About a month ago, I was stalked in the court premises. I had dismissed it back then as a minor incident, and chose not to report it to the police. But this time around, there was a brazen attempt to intimidate me, and it is most likely that I am stepping on the toes of some people,” Farhat added.

“We are looking into the possibility that people who objected to Farhat’s work with triple talaq-affected women, or one of the families involved, could have done this,” said a police official.

While investigations have begun, Chowki Chauraha police discovered that CCTV cameras, which could have captured the incident, were not operational because there was a power cut in the area at the time, and no power backup was available. “We are trying to trace the car through CCTVs installed at other places in that stretch,” said Preeti Pawar, Chowki Chauraha police outpost in-charge.

In a recent initiative, CCTVs were installed at all major crossings in the city to help improve security for women in public places. The move had been dubbed a game-changer by officials. However, the matter of non-functioning CCTV cameras questions the impact of the initiative.

In Video: Union minister MA Naqvi’s sister gets death threats