Anju, who went to Pakistan to ‘marry’ Facebook friend, returns to India

On Wednesday, Anju Rafael, a 34-year-old Rajasthani woman who had travelled to Pakistan in July to marry her Facebook friend, arrived back in India.

Upon her return, Anju told reporters, “I am happy…I have no other comments.”

Anju had entered Pakistan through the Wagah-Attari border using a Pakistani visa in order to meet Nasarullah, a 29-year-old resident of Khyber’s Upper Dir district. She went by the name Fatima and was said to have converted to Islam after marrying Nasarullah.

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Following the public release of information about her marriage in Pakistan, her husband of ten years, Arvind Kumar, of Bhiwadi, filed a case under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 366 (kidnapping a woman to force her to marry), 494 (marrying someone else without divorcing the previous partner), 500 (defamation), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

There were rumors in October that Anju was arranging to go home and see her two kids, a six-year-old boy and a 15-year-old daughter.
When she went back to the district to see her kids, Anju and Kumar would be questioned, HT had been informed at the time by a senior police officer in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.

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“A formal interrogation will be conducted with both Anju and (her husband) Arvind once she returns to India,” Bhiwadi Superintendent of Police (SP) Yogesh Dadhich informed.
Nasarullah, her purported husband in Pakistan, said that Anju aka Fatima had sought approval from the government for the trip to Rajasthan.

“We are waiting for the NOC (No-Objection Certificate) from the interior ministry in Islamabad for which we have already applied. The NOC process is a bit lengthy and it takes time to complete,” Nasarullah told a news agency in Pakistan.