Anju is ‘mentally disturbed, eccentric’: Father of Indian woman who is in Pakistan

PTI, Jul 25, 2023, 7:59 AM IST

Image source: PTI

Gwalior: The father of a married Indian woman, who has travelled legally to a remote village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to meet her Facebook friend, has claimed she is “mentally disturbed and eccentric” but not involved in any affair.

He also said it was wrong on her part to go to Pakistan without informing anyone.

The woman, Anju (34), was born in Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh and lived in Alwar district of Rajasthan. She and Pakistani national Nasrulla (29) became friends on Facebook in 2019.

Anju has travelled to Upper Dir district in the tribal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a valid Pakistani visa to meet Nasrulla.

Talking to reporters on Monday in Bouna village near Tekanpur town in Gwalior district, Anju’s father Gaya Prasad Thomas said, ”I came to know about it (Anju’s presence in Pakistan) just yesterday. My son informed me that his ‘didi’ (sister) has gone there. But, I don’t know about it. I have no contact with her for last nearly 20 years after she got married and moved to Bhiwadi (in Alwar district of Rajasthan).”

Thomas said he is currently staying here (in MP village) as his house remains vacant. He said he keeps coming here (from Faridabad in Haryana where he is settled) from time to time.

“She has not visited Tekanpur as I never invited her. She is mentally disturbed,” he claimed.

Thomas said Anju had been staying with her maternal uncle in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh since she was three years’ old and got married while residing there.

“It is wrong on her part to go to Pakistan without informing anyone. She has two children and they are with their father. I have no contact with her. I have no idea when she went to Pakistan,” he said.

“My son-in-law is a very simple person. She is eccentric, but my daughter will not have any affair with her friend. She is of free nature, but she will never get into all this. I can guarantee this,” Thomas said.

He said Anju has studied till Class 12 and was doing a job in a company.

”I left her because of her eccentric nature,” he added.

A local police official said they came to know about Anju’s presence in Pakistan through media reports.

“We came to know about this matter through the media. We heard she has gone there (in Pakistan) on a valid visa and she has left this area years back,” Dabra’s sub-divisional officer of police Vivek Kumar Sharma said.

The woman will return to India on August 20 when her visa expires, her Pakistani friend Nasrulla said earlier on Monday, dismissing reports of any love affair between them.

Nasrulla said he has no plan of marrying Anju.

”Anju is on a visit to Pakistan and we have no plan to marry,” Nasrulla told PTI in Pakistan over the phone from village Kulsho in Upper Dir district, some 300 km from Peshawar.

”She will go back to her country on August 20 after her visa expires. Anju is living in a separate room of my home with the other female members of my family,” he said.

According to an official document of the Ministry of Interior sent to Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi, the chancery was informed that it had been decided to grant a 30-day visa to Anju, valid for Upper Dir only.

Nasrulla, a science graduate, is the youngest among five brothers. He has given an affidavit to local authorities, stating there is no love angle to their friendship, and Anju will return to India on August 20.

The affidavit also states she will not move out of the Upper Dir district.

”She will definitely go back on August 20 as per her visa documents,” said Upper Dir District Police Officer Mushtaq Khan.