RAWALPINDI, July 18: It is ironic. The mother of five who sent her unholy cleric suitor from Talagang behind bars on Monday, is now living in fear for her brave act.

While Qari MSAC may be cooling his heels is Adiala Jail waiting for his appearance in a court on Friday, his desire-turned-tormentor, Ms SS sits at home, with her five children and mother-in-law, terrified of the Qari’s present friends and former comrades in the banned militant religious group he once belonged to.

After all he had arrived at her house for “the date” on Sunday night accompanied by men on two motorcycles who vanished after he was trapped inside and handed over to Saddar Bairooni police.

It was the police who dug out the Qari’s frightening past but are allegedly not bothered about her safety. Neighbours feel more for her as her husband has been languishing in jail on robbery charges for a year. The neighbours frequently inquire after the family.

“When he made his first call to me, I was shocked. I wondered how he got my cellphone number and asked him who he was,” Ms SS told Dawn in an interview on Wednesday.

“Though he never gave his real name during the two months he kept pestering me for a meeting in some hotel or garden, once he did let me know that he got my number through my children who went to a mosque near my house to learn Quran,” she said.

First she thought the caller was someone within the wider family.

“But when he fell for the trap I conceived with my mother-in-law and landed at my house, I was shocked to find a cleric looking at me. But I kept my cool,” she said.

Qari MSAC had wanted to arrive at 2am for “the date” but agreed to change it to before midnight when told 2am would be too late an hour. “After I had seated him in a room, he wanted me to sit close to him but I excused myself to fetch a glass of water for him.” And she went out - only to lock the door from outside on the hard-travelled suitor.

A signal then went out to her mother-in-law and brother who had been posted on the watch with the neighbours, who included two policemen. Arrest and remand in jail followed for Qari MSAC.

It became a date with trouble for him but not embarrassment. “I had come to meet somebody else, not the woman,” police quoted him protesting during his initial interrogation.

Saddar Bairooni police also said “prominent businessmen and friends from Talagang” visited the Qari in his lockup, not believing that the religious man would have involved himself in any dirty business.

On the other hand, Ms SS’ mother-in-law is furious at the police for booking the Qari from Talagang for making obnoxious calls and intruding a house, not “attempted rape” that she is convinced was on his mind.

She also alleges that police sent her son (husband of Ms SS) to rot in jail on false charges because the family could not meet their demand for Rs200,000 to let him go free.