BHIWANDI: A 23-year-old woman from Bhiwandi has accused her husband of “divorcing” her by sending her a “talaq, talaq, talaq” message on a messaging app. Instant

has been banned in the country since 2018.

The Bhiwandi woman has claimed that her husband sent her the message as she and her parents could not fulfil his and his family’s dowry demands. The police, however, are yet to file a complaint and have sent the case to

centre.

The police said that Arazoo Shaikh (23), a resident of Diwan Shah Dargah area in Bhiwandi, married Nadeem, a Kalyan resident who works as an engineer at a private firm, on 18 May 2014. The couple has a child. The woman has told the police that soon after she got married, her husband and inlaws started harassing her.

“She has told us that her husband also started suspecting her of having an affair and last year, demanded Rs 10 lakh to buy a new house. When her family could not give the money, her husband started harassing and assaulting her. She has said that he threw her out of the house two months ago,” said an officer.

Shaikh told TOI: “Recently, my husband sent me a WhatsApp message saying talaq talaq talaq. When I called him up, he refused to speak to me saying he had divorced me. He also blocked my phone number.”

She said that she got relatives to intervene and convince him to take her back home but he had refused to budge. With no option left, on Monday, she approached the Bhoiwada police and submitted a written complaint. However, the police have not lodged ant FIR and instead, forwarded the case to counselling centre.

Kalyan Karpe, senior inspector at Bhoiwada police station, said, “As the woman wants to live with her husband we have forwarded the case to the women’s counselling centre. If the man refuses to take her home, we will take legal action against him.”