Shibani Acharya, 19, from a well-educated and well-off Hindu Brahmin family, fell victim to seduction by an uneducated Muslim day-labourer, who already had a wife and five children. When her father, after spending much effort, could reach her, she was outrageously rude to him and in passionate defence of the poverty-stricken, uneducated and already-married man... Is that incredible?
Affluent and educated Harishchandra Acharya, a Brahmin, is a resident of the Bolangir district in the Orissa State of India. Harishchandra works for the Orissa Government as a Revenue Officer and his wife is a Lecturer in a local college at Bolangir. The couple has a son and a daughter; Shibani, the daughter, is the elder. She is 19 and in the second-year of her B. Sc. Course in a local college. She is also doing a computer course, B.C.A., in a local computer training centre. With the son, 18, studying engineering in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the state, there's a happy, well-off family.
But trouble appeared from quite an unexpected quarter. Harishchandra had engaged some Muslim masons for repairing work of his house. There is a shortage of menial workers, such as masons, in Orissa; people of the state generally hire Muslim artisans from the adjacent state of West Bengal, particularly from the district of Murshidabad.
The people of Orissa, the land of Lord Jagannath, though poor, are generally deeply pious and devoted to Lord Jagannath. Notably, two states in India, namely Orissa and Assam, where Muslims could not penetrate much during the Muslim rule, due to patriotism and bravery of the people. When other parts of India were bleeding due to Muslim onslaughts, these two states were able to resist the Muslim invaders and protect their freedom and culture. Therefore, conversion to Islam was also much less; as a result, the proportion of Muslim population in Orissa is much less than in other parts of today’s India.
Naimur Shaikh (35) was one of the Muslim masons, hired by Harishchandra. On one fine morning at the end of April this year (2010), Shibani was found to have eloped with Naimur. Distressed at this totally unexpected development, her family's initial search for the couple in the started went in vain. At last, Harishchandra could obtain Naimur's whereabouts from other Muslim masons working in the locality.
Shibani’s father, an influential Government officer, lodged a complaint with local police and received good cooperation. The reader should understand that such incidents are quite common in India, with hundreds to thousands of cases every year, and in many cases, police are not cooperative enough. Hence advice from peoples, who previously handled such cases, is also important.
In this context, it is worth mentioning one incident, in which Baruipur police station sent a police officer and 6 constables to Pune to rescue a Bengali girl, who had been seduced and kidnapped to Pune and ultimately sold to a brothel. But the police failed to bring her back. Police displayed this incompetence despite knowing that certain Hindu organization had previously succeeded in rescuing a girl, similarly kidnapped from Canning and sold into a brothel in Pune, without help from police.
Shibani’s father also informed the Hindu organization, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), about her disappearance with Naimur, and asked for their help. VHP folks promised Harishchandra to do their best, but were doubtful of how much they could do, given the Suti Block in the district of Murshidabad, where Naimur Shaikh lived, is a Muslim-dominated (65%) locality.
On May 3, Harishchandra, with two police officers, one constable and two VHP activists from Bolangir came to Kolkata. Meanwhile Calcutta-based Hindu organizations were able to enlist help from the Bharat Sevashram Sangha that runs a big Ashram, including a boy’ residential boarding house, near Fatepur, Naimur's village. It also offers help and shelter for Hindus of the Muslim-dominated district of Murshidabad.
Having investigated the case, Bharat Sevashram Sangha people informed that Naimur, who already had a wife and five kids, had brought a new girl, who does not understand Bengali, and that she wasn't eating anything for last three days.
After arrival of the team from Bolangir at Kolkata, local activists set out with them for the Bahrampur police station, where they met the Additional SP. As per latter's instruction, they headed to the Suti police station and arrived there in the darkness of night (~9 PM) so as to keep the operation secret. While in most such cases, Muslim staff of the police would secretly inform the culprits so that they could hide the kidnapped girl, the Officer-in-charge of the Suti police station fully cooperated with the rescue team.
A team of police personnel from the Suti police station, allied with the team from Bolangir (accompanied by Harishchandra and two members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad), raided Naimur's house at midnight. Naimur, alarmed by the headlight of the police convoy, fled. Upon knocking the door, Shibani came out of the room, where she was sleeping with Naimur, while his other wife was sleeping in the adjacent room with her five children.
Harishchandra became extremely emotional after seeing his daughter. He clasped her hands and broke into tears and said: “Please return to your home. Your mother has fallen ill after your disappearance. She is not eating anything for last a few days. She will die if you do not return with me.”
The manner and tone of Shibani's reply to her father was extremely harsh and totally unexpected. Everyone was dumbfounded by her behavior. In an extremely rude, rough and shrill voice, she said: “None has kidnapped me and I have come here out of my own will. I am having good time here and I won’t return.” To the police team from Orissa, She said (in Oria): “Naimur was not ready to bring me here; I came here with unwilling Naimur.” She added: “I am an adult woman and hence I have the right to do what I want.”
A police officer from Orissa asked her: “Who is that man, who has just fled?” Shibani boldly replied: “He is my husband.” The officer asked: “Who is that man to you.” With added boldness, she replied: “Being an officer, don't you know what is the relation between a husband and a wife?”
The police officers were taken aback by the rude and harsh behavior of Shibani. In general, the children of educated families in Orissa never talk in this manner with their parents. Even Shibani, previously, would never have behaved in this manner with her father, under whatsoever circumstances. Her attitude toward her father was unthinkable. Shibani was speaking for Naimur, despite the fact that he was way too poor for Harishchandra's family, and that he already had a wife and five children.
Shibani then went inside and brought all the documents to prove her age and showed those documents to the police officers. The police team from the Suti then told the team from Orissa that, in such a situation, they have nothing to do. “We cannot take an adult woman to the police station by force”, they said. Her father could understand that any request and advice to his daughter would be futile. The case of Rijwanur Rahman and Prianka Todi was still haunting the West Bengal police. So, they returned bowing down their heads with shame.
While the tale of Shibani Acharya, indeed an incredible story, has been told above, the important point one must ponder over as to why Hindu girls behave so outrageously, even to their parent and dear ones, after being seduced by Muslim men. While one may guess that Muslims probably use some kind of black magic or some other form of occult science or sorcery, or some herbs to charm and hypnotize those girls, what is undeniable is that they definitely apply some psychological process to hypnotize them, which make them hate and disrespect their own parents so deeply, soon after they fall prey to Muslim seduction. It, nonetheless, is baffling to the extreme as to how Hindu girls from educated and well-off families, well-loved and well-groomed, can accept such unequal marriages with uneducated Muslim men, most of whom are poor daily-labourers and often having a wife and children at home, can so passionately accept a loveless married life of misery and subjugation.
This story, originally published by Tapan Ghosh is a Bengali magazine, is an edited translation.
