Devout Muslim Jubel Miah battered wife and forced her to wear niqab

A devout Muslim who battered his wife and terrorised her into wearing the niqab has been jailed but may go free in eight weeks.

Jubel Miah, 21, ordered his wife to wear a full veil after she said she was going to college to study.

He called her names and said to her: “You are a married woman. You don’t do this.”

Burnley Magistrates’ Court heard how the wife, who has not been named, agreed to wear the full face veil because she believed he would stop making her life a misery.

However Miah began beating her when he noticed she was not smiling during Eid celebrations with family.

During a catalogue of violence Miah from Burnley, Lancashire, ripped his wife’s tongue, kicked and punched her and gave her black eyes.

He tracked her movements using his mobile phone, tried to stop her going to college, accused her of cheating and falsely claimed there were spies in their loft.

When the victim became pregnant she was found to have injuries to her body and eye when she went to hospital for a 16-week check up.

And when she later went through a traumatic birth delivering a premature baby, Miah was so enraged that a male doctor was treating his wife afterwards, a female medic had to be brought. He was also said to be angry and threatening to people trying to help the family.

The wife finally escaped after he stabbed her with scissors and hit her with a dumbell.

Miah was jailed for 16 weeks after admitting common assault by beating.

He was also given an indefinite restraining order to keep him away from the victim. The sentence means Miah could be free in just two months for good behaviour. The maximum sentence he could have faced was six months.

After the case Rachel Horman, head of the domestic violence division at law firm Watson Ramsbottom, said: “The sentence is an insult to the victim and people will view the punishment as a slap on the wrist.

“There has been a prolonged 12-month ordeal, so why was only one charge brought? It’s absolutely shocking and it makes me really angry.

“If this was an attack by a stranger in the street, I can guarantee it would have been a different story. Domestic violence is often undersentenced and too much blame is given to the victims.”

In mitigation defence lawyer Adnan Hanif said: “It’s not often that I am lost for words.” He said what Miah had done would probably cause lasting scars to the victim and her family. His family was very upset with him.

The solicitor continued: “His actions have affected quite a number of people and I would say that quite a number of lives have, in effect, been destroyed. There is nothing that allows the defendant to behave in that manner. I feel sorry for the victim in this case.”

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