04, Feb 2016

At Shamli’s Kandhla, members of Mohammad Asif’s family, who had been on the run after being accused in a police complaint of abduction, are back home but have suffered “irreparable losses”.
Written by Sweta Dutta | Kandhla | Published:February 4, 2016 1:50 am
The Muslim boy’s family at their rasidence in Kandla area of Shamli district-Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav
More than a month after Shamli simmered with communal tension, when a mahapanchayat labelled the elopement of a 23-year-old Hindu woman with a married Muslim man “love jihad”, the couple and their families are straining to battle the past and build a new life.
At Shamli’s Kandhla, members of Mohammad Asif’s family, who had been on the run after being accused in a police complaint of abduction, are back home but have suffered “irreparable losses”. In Delhi, where the couple moved to, Aksa Rani, formerly Anjali Saini, says she is “very content” but still faces harassment from her family.
At their Kandhla home, Asif’s mother Mehrunisa said, “We had to be on the run for a month as members of our family were constantly being picked up for interrogation. Aksa had left a note at home saying that she had voluntarily left home and wanted to be with Asif but her family hid the letter and filed a false complaint. Even we had no idea of the affair nor did we approve of it. Asif was already married and has three children.”