Uzma, the Indian woman who was allegedly forced to marry a Pakistani man in a widely publicised cross-border case, returned to her home country through the Wagah border on Thursday morning. She was escorted by Indian High Commission officials.
“Welcome home India’s daughter. I am sorry for all that you have gone through,” said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Uzma’s family thanked Swaraj for her help, reported NDTV.
On Wednesday, an Islamabad court court had approved her request to return to India after she said that Tahir Ali, a Pakistani national, had married her at gunpoint. The bench gave Uzma her original immigration form back after her Ali submitted it to the court on Tuesday. The judges instructed the police to provide her with security till she reached the Wagah border crossing.
On May 19, Uzma had submitted a six-page reply to the court claiming that she was forced to sign a nikahnama or marriage contract and requested the court to allow her to travel to India as her visa expired on May 30. She had earlier filed an application at the judicial magistrate’s court in Islamabad.
In her plea, the Delhi resident had said that she got to know Ali in Malaysia and contacted him after she returned to India. She alleged that the man had forced her to get a Pakistani visa to visit him and that he had drugged her soon after picking her up from the Wagah border.
After she woke up the same night in a “strange village with strange people”, she said Ali had sexually assaulted and tortured her and then threatened to kill her. “The next day, they brought me to a dirty and strange house, they took my signature on a nikahnama at gunpoint,” Uzma claimed. She also said Ali was already married with four children.
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