A new incident has emerged in the midst of an ongoing inquiry into Pakistani national Seema Haider's illegal entry into India, garnering media attention and raising eyebrows.
An Indian woman from Rajasthan's Bhiwadi district crossed the border into Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region to meet a man she met on Facebook and fell in love with.
Anju, the woman, planned to meet her boyfriend in Pakistan while keeping her husband, Arvind, in the dark. She told Arvind she is going to Jaipur for a few days. Arvind was taken aback when he learned from media reports that Anju had crossed the border into Pakistan.
Despite the distance, Anju kept in touch with her family via WhatsApp, and on Sunday, she called Arvind to assure him that she is in Lahore and would be back in two to three days.
Arvind confessed to knowing about his wife's rumoured lover in Pakistan and expressed hope that she would soon return to him.
Arvind and Anju both work, with Arvind in Bhiwadi and Anju working as a biodata input operator at a private enterprise.
They had two children and married after Anju converted to Christianity in order to marry Arvind. The family, as well as Anju's brother, shared a rented flat in Bhiwadi.
Anju's trip to Pakistan was fraught with obstacles. She left her house on Thursday in the guise of going to Jaipur to meet her 29-year-old Facebook buddy, Nasrullah, who works in the medical industry.
The two had met a few months before on the social networking platform.
Anju's presence in Pakistan was discovered by the authorities, resulting in her initial arrest. Her travel paperwork was eventually verified and confirmed to be in order, and she was later freed.
The government supplied her with protection in order to avoid any mishaps that could harm the country's prestige.
The episode has spurred debate on the power and dangers of social media connections, cross-border relationships, and the difficult balance between personal desires and family obligations.
For the time being, the situation remains ambiguous as Anju's fate hangs in the balance and the ramifications of her actions play out.
