Iffa Asa, the 22-year old daughter of former Union minister CM Ibrahim, spoke to the media on Friday for the first time since her emergency hospitalization, following the sudden miscarriage of her four month-old foetus.
Speaking on Public TV in Bengaluru, Iffa said that the doctors had told her that something was given to her which killed her baby. She went on to voice her suspicion about the involvement of her family members in the misdeed.
It was on Wednesday that her father-in-law Khader filed a complaint with the Cubbon Park police against his brother Ibrahim for forceful abortion of Iffa’s unborn child.
22-year old Iffa had got married against her family’s wishes to her first cousin Faisal on 27 May last year in a mosque, while the marriage was registered at Shivajinagar on 29 September.
Though Iffa has not blamed any member of her family by name, she had mentioned in her statement to the police that the only place where she partaken of food and juice on that fateful day was at her parents’ home.
“If it happened at my house, it had to be my family. Who else would do it?” she asked.
“There is no natural cause for a miscarriage, because it does not usually happen after three months of pregnancy. But I still thought it was a miscarriage. It was only after my husband came at around 2 am, and there was a problem at the hospital that Dr Venkatesh who did the surgery told my husband that it was not a miscarriage, but an incomplete abortion that was induced by something I had eaten. The next day, I myself asked the doctor whether this was true, and he said yes.”
Iffa goes on to share in the course of the interview how she had got married for love, and her family’s opposition to the same. She said that she visited her family a couple of times after marriage.
She accused her parents and siblings of trying to break up her marriage and force her to return home:
“I don't know why such a big incident happened, wherein a baby was killed. This is obviously a case of foeticide, since it was done without my knowledge. I think it was probably my brother or eldest sister who did this.
My father even went to the extent of saying that he would support my marriage, if I get my child aborted. I told him that if he would support the marriage, he would have to support my pregnancy as well. I told them that I would not go through with an abortion, and both my husband and I wanted the child. Even the doctors knew about our decision to continue with the pregnancy. But on the very same day that we made the decision, this happened.”
That none of her family members turned up at the hospital even after knowing that she was in the ICU saddened her all the more. Iffa also shared her apprehensions on whether her father’s immense political influence would prevent the actual truth from being revealed. Meanwhile she plans to approach both the State and National Women’s Commission on Friday in this regard.
According to Khader’s complaint, his daughter-in-law Iffa Afsa had called his son CM Faizal on Monday afternoon, and told him that her elder siblings Faiz and Shabina had forcibly administered a sour-smelling Mausambi juice to her against her wishes, which brought on stomach pain and bleeding.