The Hindu : National : Gudiya makes her choice

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

National

National

Gudiya makes her choice

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 21. The emotional travails of Gudiya, a young woman caught between two husbands appeared to be nearing a denouement with the three protagonists, Ms. Gudiya, Arif and Taufiq, accepting the supremacy of the Shariat.At an unusual reality show on the Zee News channel, Ms. Gudiya, Mr. Arif (first husband) and Mr. Taufiq, joined by their family members and village elders appeared in the studio in the presence of Islamic scholars, including Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, and representatives of the Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband, to decide whether she should go with Mr. Arif or Mr. Taufiq and also the fate of the child she is carrying from her second marriage.

At the end of the show, Ms. Gudiya said, "I am ready to go with Arif if he will accept me. I am not above Shariat."

Asked about the child's fate, Mr. Arif said, ``It is Taufiq's child. If he doesn't want to take care of the child, then I will and when he grows up, Taufiq can take him."Ms. Gudiya parried a question on the fate of the child, saying, "Who knows what will happen to me? I may die or the child may also die. No one can say anything on it."

Mr. Arif was called for duty in the Kargil sector 10 days after his marriage to Ms. Gudiya. He was found missing, and after waiting for four years, Ms. Gudiya was married off to Mr. Taufiq, a distant relative. A year after this marriage, Mr. Arif was found in a Pakistani jail and the Indian Government intervened and secured his release. — PTI

"Respect her wishes"

Our Special Correspondent writes:

Ms. Gudiya has found support in film-maker Mahesh Bhat. He asked people to respect her wishes.

" A woman must have the right to decide who she wants to live with. This is a very delicate situation; it affects the lives and feelings of many people including the child she is carrying. But, above all, she must have the right to choose who she wants to spend her life with," he said.Mr. Bhat spoke out against those who have labelled the child she is carrying as illegitimate."Who has given them the right to call it illegitimate? How can something that nature has gifted be illegitimate?"He urged women's organisations to come to the aid of the beleaguered Ms. Gudiya.

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