Dr. Aysha case: Keralam doctor’s protest against husband raises questions over polygamy

Dr Aysha Mohammed, a 33-year-old postgraduate dental surgeon working in Doha, Qatar, spent more than three weeks sitting in protest outside her estranged husband’s parental house at Edakkazhiyur in Chavakkad, Thrissur, Keralam.

She came to the house demanding what she says are her legal rights and protection for herself and her 10-year-old daughter following the remarriage of her husband.

What began as a woman’s demand for maintenance, the return of her gold and money and protection for her child became a wider public debate after Aysha alleged that her husband, Dr. Ali Abdul Latheef, a medical doctor, had married another woman without legally ending their marital relationship of getting a consent letter from the Mahal committee concerned.

‘This is not a wife vs husband individual fight’

On September 7, women’s organisations held a solidarity demonstration in support of Aysha. The programme was led by the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and the Forum Against Domestic Atrocities Against Women.

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Women activists who gathered there said the issue could not be confined to a dispute between two individuals. They linked Aysha’s experience to a larger concern about women’s rights within marriage, particularly when a second marriage enters an already fractured relationship.

“This is not an individual fight by a wife against her husband. It is a woman’s fight against a system. It is about the rights of a child. This is not an agitation against any religion, because this persists across religion and party politics. So this is a fight against the system by all women for their rights,” said Usha Prabhukumar, Thrissur district secretary of AIDWA.

Allegations of domestic violence, locked inside home

Aysha and Ali entered into a nikah in 2013, followed by a wedding reception in 2015. According to Aysha, her family gave 100 sovereigns of gold, and Ali also received money of Rs 15 lakh from her family on multiple occasions.

She says she has been subjected to years of domestic violence. She has also alleged that, while she was working in Mangaluru, Karnataka, during the COVID pandemic, she was locked inside a flat for weeks, being assaulted. According to Aysha, she returned home with the assistance of the police.

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“Ours was a love marriage, and from the beginning, his father was opposed to it. Later, issues began to arise between my husband and me, mostly around his father’s disagreement with our marriage. By then, he had already spent the money from my gold and savings on his postgraduate education,” Aysha told The Federal.

“I completed my undergraduate studies on merit and did not have to spend a large amount of money. My postgraduation was on full scholarship from National Institute of Health (NIH). I have been involved in several court cases since 2021 seeking justice. Now he has moved on with a new life since last year,” adds Aysha.

Online trolling

The dispute has also raised questions for Aysha about the rights and protection available to women whose husbands enter into a second marriage. “What I feel now is that women like me have no avenue within the religious system to seek help when their partners choose to enter into a second marriage. While Islamic law may permit a second marriage, that does not mean a husband should be allowed to abandon his wife and child. Yet, there seems to be nowhere for women like me to go and seek redress. Here in my case, he has used all my assets, which is absolutely against Islamic principles and yet the system is silent, not even raising a question about it,” she says.

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Aysha says she has been raising their daughter alone for the past six years. She alleges that her husband has not provided any sort of financial support all this while, even though there were some efforts for reconciliation during 2024. She says that after going public with the issue, she has been relentlessly trolled online and subjected to slut-shaming by people supporting the man, many of whom, she says, do not know either of them or understand the facts of the case.

‘Legal divorce only after my demands are met’

Her demands during the protest include the return of the gold and money she says were given by her family, adequate maintenance for her daughter’s future, and legal protection and rights for herself and the child.

She has also maintained that she would consider a legal divorce only after these demands are addressed.

For women’s organisations supporting Aysha, however, the allegation of polygamy raised a question about the position of a woman whose husband enters another marriage while disputes arising from the first marriage remain unresolved.

Women's organisations argue that the harm associated with an unequal marriage does not necessarily begin or end with physical violence. Economic dependence, denial of maintenance, control over access to the matrimonial home and emotional abandonment can leave a woman vulnerable.

A second marriage, they argue, can deepen that vulnerability.

“This is not merely a women’s issue; it is a fight for social justice. Patriarchal values exist, to varying degrees, across all religions, and they can undermine women’s lives and rights. Aysha and her husband are both educated professionals, yet she is still going through this. When we address such issues, they should not be bracketed as anti-men or against a particular religion. This falls squarely under women’s rights, atrocities against women, and domestic violence,” says feminist activist Mercy Alexander, who is one of the leaders of the Forum Against Domestic Violence.

According to Aysha, she staged her protest at her matrimonial house as she has a court order permitting her to enter but the gate was found locked. She further alleged that she was denied basic facilities, including water.

Ali’s relatives dispute Aysha’s account

Aysha’s husband Dr. Ali was not available for comment. However, some of Ali’s relatives dispute Aysha’s account. They claim that Ali’s father had not approved of the marriage and that the family had subsequently cut ties with him. They also allege that Aisha is protesting outside their house primarily to gain public traction for her version of the dispute.

“The allegations of domestic violence by Ali’s family and of Ali neglecting his daughter are untrue. There are videos of Ali and his daughter on his Instagram, which show that he has maintained a relationship with her,” a relative said.

Aysha, however, disputes this account. She says there were attempts at reconciliation in 2024 and that Ali had visited her and their daughter in Qatar during that period.

“I have been here for 25 days. Today, September 8, marks one month since I began my protest. Political and business leaders from Thrissur and Kozhikode have now begun mediation efforts in the hope of finding a peaceful and acceptable resolution. I sincerely hope these discussions will lead to a positive outcome. However, if the mediation fails, I am determined to continue my protest including undertaking a hunger strike.”

Polygamy is generally discussed as an issue of personal law and religious practice. Aysha’s case has placed another aspect of that debate in public view: what happens to the rights and economic security of the first wife when a second marriage becomes part of a troubled relationship?

A constitutional challenge to polygamy under Muslim personal law is pending before the Supreme Court in the Sameena Begum v. Union of India batch, grouped with some other public interest litigations. The petitions question its compatibility with Articles 14, 15 and 21, whether polygamy is protected as an essential religious practice under Article 25, and whether criminal bigamy laws should apply uniformly. The core questions include whether personal law can permit practices that allegedly discriminate against women and undermine their equality, dignity and fundamental rights.