10/08/2025
Bangladeshi woman who married online and came to Nepal has been left stranded.
Rautahat, August 8 — Istayak Ahmad
Laboni Begum, 26, from Mokimpur Mithapukar Gopalpur in Rangpur district, Bangladesh, is currently stranded in Rautahat, Nepal.
She says she was in a romantic relationship for three years with Shesh Mahtab Alam of Sabgadha, Ward No. 6, Gaur Municipality, after meeting through social media. They married online before she came to Nepal. However, she alleges that just two weeks after the wedding, she was thrown out of her husband’s house.
According to Laboni, she first came into contact with Alam via TikTok, Facebook, and IMO. After around three years of dating, the couple registered their marriage at the Gazipur court in Bangladesh. At that time, Alam was working in Kuwait.
Laboni arrived in Nepal on June 11, while Alam returned from Kuwait on June 7. After living with her husband’s family for two weeks, she claims she was expelled from the house on June 30.
Following this, she returned to Bangladesh. But on July 30, after being invited back by her husband, she came to Nepal again. This time too, she says Alam’s family refused to let her stay at their home. She is currently living at the house of a neighbor, Najra Khatun. According to her, since July 30 the house of Alam has been locked, and both her husband and his family members have been out of contact.
Laboni has sought justice from the District Police Office in Rautahat and other authorities. However, Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepak Raya said that since she came to Nepal voluntarily, it is not considered a legal case of injustice.
Awdh Bihari Prasad, ward chairperson of Gaur Municipality-6, said, “Regardless of which country a woman comes from, if she has legally married and arrived at her husband’s home, she should be given her marital rights.”
He further explained that in the Muslim community, marriages can be solemnized through phone calls, video calls, or letters with two witnesses present, and such marriages are religiously valid, not fraudulent. He stressed that in this case, the marriage had been performed according to Islamic tradition, and if the family is not allowing her to stay, this amounts to injustice. The matter, he said, requires the attention of the local community and the District Administration Office.