Arrest warrants against 9 after fatwa for halala

Dhaka:  A court in Bangladesh's Panchagarh has issued arrest warrants for nine people allegedly involved in issuing a fatwa for 'halala' marriage that led to a middle-aged couple being isolated for four months in their village.

Aynal Haque, 52, and his wife Jamiran, 42, were targeted by a radical Islamist leader's 'fatwa' (religious edict) calling on Jamiran to marry another man, get a divorce from him, and then remarry Aynal. As the couple ignored the diktat, the Islamist leader asked everyone in the neighbourhood in Salimnagar village to isolate the couple as a punishment.

Police probed the incident and submitted the report accusing nine people - M. Shahjahan, Mufti Md Anwar Hossain, M. Nasir Uddin, M. Amir Chan, M. Shaheed, M. Sorman Ali, M. Julhaque, M. Mastafa, and M. Rasel.

Judicial Magistrate M.M. Mahbub Islam issued the warrants after the police submitted an investigation report on Sunday, Court Inspector Anisur Rahman said.

Taking up the case suo motu on August 11, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Matiur Rahman asked Debiganj Police Station officer-in-charge, Jamal Hossain, to submit the investigation report by August 22.

Meanwhile, Hossain said that he was yet to get the warrants.