Though Ishrat Jahan seemingly won the battle when the Supreme Court on August 22 ruled that instant triple talaq was unconstitutional, life has gone from bad to worse for the petitioner from West Bengal.

Speaking to DNA at her home on Nando Ghosh Road, in Howrah district, Ishrat said that the apex court verdict has proved to be more of a bane as she had been socially ostracised and there is a growing sense of insecurity about her future. "It has been the loneliest Eid-ul-Adha (Bakri Eid) for me," she says from her 7 feet x 10 feet room. "No one came over for the customary embrace and exchange of greetings. Since the day of the judgement, the only good thing that has happened is that the electricity connection, which was cut, had been restored. My in-laws want me to withdraw the case and some neighbours are threatening me because they think I have spoken against the Muslim religious law."

She says the media attention has gone against her, and she has had to drop her customary naqab or veil to fence off imposters. "Strangers throng my house as if I am a tourist attraction," she says. "I used to put on a naqab, but then someone from the locality pretended to be me and gave an interview to the media. If an imposter makes any loose comment, I will have to bear the brunt. That is why I have decided to come out of the veil."

She said that she would next file a suit against her husband Md Murtaza Ansari for maintenance and also for seizure of his passport so that he is unable to leave the country. "I have been living in extreme penury with my children, and my husband should not go anywhere without paying up," she says. "My sister has been supporting me financially. I also sew clothes for people in the neighbourhood and earn some extra money for our livelihood."

Recently her husband attempted to take their two children away. They were returned after the police intervened, and she was given police protection for the night.

Mustafa Ansari, Ishrat's brother-in-law says his brother never divorced Ishrat. "They had a fight over the phone and out of anger, he had asked to get out of the house. It was a normal couple's spat," he says. "She turned it into a big issue saying that he had given her talaq and moved court."