Jilted Afghan Bride Seeks Justice In India

JILTED AFGHAN BRIDE SEEKS JUSTICE IN INDIA 30 Dec 2008, 2323 hrs IST, TNN NEW DELHI: It's a love story gone sour. So, she has crossed the border, from Kabul to New Delhi, seeking justice. A young Afghan translator, Sabra Khan, is in the Capital, complaining about having been deceived by an Indian army doctor who allegedly married her and then abandoned her in Afghanistan. Sabra, 21, has alleged that a Major, Dr Chandrasekhar Pant, who was associated with the Indira Gandhi Hospital run by the Indian mission in Kabul, married her during his stay in Afghanistan in 2006. "I was initially attached as a translator to another doctor but Major Pant asked for my services. In time, he asked for my hand in marriage but my parents refused on the ground that we were from different religions and he was much older than me,'' she claims. According to Sabra, the doctor then converted to Islam and her parents finally agreed to the match. But after living together for 15 days, Pant allegedly told her he had to go to India for work and would return in a year's time. According to Sabra, she finally got a call from the doctor six months later but only to be left completely shocked. He said he won't be able to take her to India as he was already married and had two children. "I decided to come to India and look for him,'' she told TOI. "I went to the Army hospital in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand where the Major is currently posted. But he said he had made a mistake and asked me to go back. He even offered me money.'' Rejected by the doctor, Sabra says she has now brought her plea for justice to Delhi and wants her husband to face action. She has already met Home Minister P Chidambaram and also registered a complaint with the National Commission for Women. Meanwhile, the Army has already started probing her allegations. A day after she met Chidambaram in Delhi, the Army said a probe has been initiated. "The matter is under investigation. Based on facts from the investigation, further action will be taken. If found guilty, law will take its own course against Major Pant,'' director-general of medical services (Army) Lt-Gen NK Parmar said on Tuesday. "The local police in Afghanistan could not have arrested Major Pant because they have no jurisdiction. The complaint has come through the ministry of external affairs and it is already in the knowledge of the Central Command,'' said Parmar.

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