Indian woman who went to Pakistan to marry Facebook friend returns to country

PTI, Nov 30, 2023, 9:19 AM IST

Amritsar: Anju, an Indian mother of two children who travelled to Pakistan to marry her Facebook friend, returned to India through the Wagah-Attari border on Wednesday, officials said.

Anju alias Fatima, 34, had travelled to a remote village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan to marry her Facebook friend Nasrullah, leaving her children in India. Her 29-year-old Pakistani husband accompanied her up to the Wagah border.

On reaching India, she was not allowed to interact with the media and straightway went to the airport to catch a flight to Delhi.

At the Shri Guru Ramdas International Airport here, Anju was spotted wearing a burqa.

She told the media there, “I am here in India to meet my Indian family. I came back to India of my own volition….”

Anju had travelled to Pakistan via the Wagah-Attari border in July with a visa, converted to Islam, and changed her name to Fatima after getting married to Nasrullah, whom she had befriended on Facebook four years ago.

Anju’s Indian husband Arvind had said that she left home on the pretext of going to Jaipur but later the family came to know that she was in Pakistan.

Anju, along with her Indian husband, used to live in the Bhiwadi area of Rajasthan. She hails from Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh.

On Wednesday, Bhiwadi’s Additional Superintendent of Police Dilip Saini said they had no information about the return of Anju.

Police sources said that Arvind no longer resides in Bhiwadi and has relocated to somewhere with their children.