CNN-IBN (India): Betrayed Afghan girl takes on Indian Army Major

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL10sP60aVQ



http://ibnlive.in.com/news/betrayed-afghan-girl-takes-on-indian-army-major/82468-3.html

Betrayed Afghan girl takes on Indian Army Major
Rupashree Nanda / CNN-IBN
Published on Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 10:18, Updated on Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 11:02 in Nation section



New Delhi: The story of Sabra, a 20-year-old Afghan interpreter, is all about extraordinary willpower.

Sabra hasn’t studied beyond class XII, but she is in India taking on her estranged Major Chandrasekhar Pant, who, she alleges, deceived and deserted her three weeks after marrying her in Kabul.

The Afghan girl was barely 18 when she married Major Pant. She says they met at the Indian Medical Mission hospital in Kabul, where she was working as an interpreter, and he, as a doctor.

Sabra claims that he even changed his religion to convince her parents. However, Major Pant left for India three weeks after the marriage and in six months the frequent phone rings went silent.

“People in my country taunt me that I have been deceived by a doctor. He married me and went away. The local boys tease they don’t mind marrying me for 20 days,” Sabra says.

Two years later, Sabra set out for Pithorgarh in Uttarakhand looking for her husband, only to discover that he is already married and has two children.

All that he could offer by way of compensation was money, but Sabra wanted justice and therefore she lodged an FIR in the Pithorgarh police station.

“God will punish him for the wrong he has done to my life,” she says.

Sabra is now lodged in Delhi with the Jawaharlal Nehru University students union and has approached Home Minister P Chidambaram and the National Commission for Women.

“I want to meet Defence Minister AK Antony,” Sabra adds.

Sources at the Army Medical Corps say, “Army Court of inquiry has found a prima facie case against Major Chandrasekhar Pant. A summary of evidence was conducted and the report has been submitted to the Central Army Commander. He is likely to be charged on two counts — bigamy and changing his religion without taking prior permission.”

Sabra means patience and resilience. It also means one who is without a blemish but the young Afghan girl is willing to fight it out for as long as necessary.