Hyd police move MEA to retrieve girl 'sold' to Omani national even as teams hunt for qazi

The marriage was performed in May, at a guest house in Hyderabad, where the Omani national was staying.

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The Hyderabad police said that they were making all efforts and coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), to rescue a 16-year-old girl who was 'sold off' to an Omani national earlier this year.

It was the investigation of this case, that led the city police to a massive web of brokers and qazis this week, who ran an elaborate trafficking racket in the city.

The marriage was performed in May at a guest house in Jalpally where the Omani national was staying. He returned home after the marriage and sent a visa for the girl, who later joined him in Muscat.

Later, the girl informed her parents over the phone that her husband was mentally and physically torturing her.

Following this, her mother Fathima* lodged a complaint at the Falaknuma police station that her husband, his sister, Ghousia Begum, and brother-in-law, Sikander, "sold" the girl to the Omani man for Rs 5 lakh.

According to reports, they paid Rs 5 lakh to the brokers at the time of 'nikah', which they also allegedly split with the Qazi who performed the marriage.

While Sikander and Ghousia have been arrested, the city-based naib qazi Habeeb Ali, who solemnised the nikah, is reported to be on the run.

The duo were also charged with forging her documents, to show that the 16-year-old was 24 years old.

The Times of India reported that the Omani national went to the Indian mission in Oman, showed her passport, and claimed that he married a 24-year-old woman.

Following this, the police got a bonafide certificate from the school, stating that she was born in 1998.

“We have sent the evidence to the Indian diplomatic mission in Oman to prove that the girl is a minor. We are trying to bring her back home," ACP Falaknuma, Tajuddin Ahmed told ToI.

Meanwhile, the police formed separate teams, to hunt for the absconding qazi.

“We have searched his house, but he is currently absconding. Two teams are looking for him,” Deputy commissioner of police, South Zone, V Satyanarayana, told Deccan Chronicle.

The DC report adds that the Telangana Wakf Board had suspended him, but he managed to get a stay order from a court.

Meanwhile, in another development, some reports claim that the girl wants to stay in Muscat.

“The girl has already appeared at the Indian mission and has expressed unwillingness to leave. Unlike most other cases of such marriages, where the woman is sold or slaved, the Omani national seems to be pampering her with riches,” a police official told The Hindu.

However, this conflicts the complaint by the girl's parents, that she was being harrased.

The official added that they would still work on getting the girl back, and prosecuting the man, as it was a case of child marriage, which violated the law.