'Poverty forced us to give daughter away to Arab’
Sep 7, 2011, 03.43AM IST TNN
HYDERABAD: Even as police arrested a UAE national for marrying a minor Hyderabadi girl on Tuesday, the girl's mother claimed that they were forced to take the step owing to their desperate economic situation.
The mother, Parveen Sultana, said she has nine children-five girls and four boys-and very little income to support them. "The girl is of marriageable age. We performed the marriage with her consent," she claimed.
The girl's father Awan Bin Salam Barawas, a petty trader, said as the would-be groom was known to the family, he decided to go ahead with the marriage proposal that came their way. The police, on a tip-off, went to a house in Moin Bagh, Riyasthnagar, on September 4 to try and stop the marriage. But by the time the police reached there, the wedding rituals had already been performed. However, taking the appearance of the bride which indicated that she was a minor, the police detained the bridegroom, Hilal Saeed Mohammed Al Hilal, qazi Mohammed Waheeduddin, and the parents of the girl. They also sent the girl to Osmania General Hospital for age-determination test.
When the OGH doctor, Abhijeet Subedar, certified that the girl was about 16 years of age and not 22 years as mentioned in the Aadhaar card, the police formally arrested all four of them.
Al Hilal, 47, is a native of Sharjah in the UAE. He is already married and has children. The police said that Al Hilal cheated the parents by saying that he was single. He also paid Rs 30,000 to the parents and agreed to pay the expenses for organizing the wedding reception.
Qazi Mohammed Shakir Adil of Mohammed Nagar Qila Golconda said that his naib (deputy) Waheeduddin could not be blamed. He had checked the age of the girl given in the Aadhaar card and proceeded to perform the ritual. "The qazis have no means to find out the real age of the girls. We have to go by some certificate, as in the Aadhaar card in this case. He cannot be held responsible. It is a serious case of police high-handedness. We will fight against it," he said.
Sep 7, 2011, 03.43AM IST TNN
HYDERABAD: Even as police arrested a UAE national for marrying a minor Hyderabadi girl on Tuesday, the girl's mother claimed that they were forced to take the step owing to their desperate economic situation.
The mother, Parveen Sultana, said she has nine children-five girls and four boys-and very little income to support them. "The girl is of marriageable age. We performed the marriage with her consent," she claimed.
The girl's father Awan Bin Salam Barawas, a petty trader, said as the would-be groom was known to the family, he decided to go ahead with the marriage proposal that came their way. The police, on a tip-off, went to a house in Moin Bagh, Riyasthnagar, on September 4 to try and stop the marriage. But by the time the police reached there, the wedding rituals had already been performed. However, taking the appearance of the bride which indicated that she was a minor, the police detained the bridegroom, Hilal Saeed Mohammed Al Hilal, qazi Mohammed Waheeduddin, and the parents of the girl. They also sent the girl to Osmania General Hospital for age-determination test.
When the OGH doctor, Abhijeet Subedar, certified that the girl was about 16 years of age and not 22 years as mentioned in the Aadhaar card, the police formally arrested all four of them.
Al Hilal, 47, is a native of Sharjah in the UAE. He is already married and has children. The police said that Al Hilal cheated the parents by saying that he was single. He also paid Rs 30,000 to the parents and agreed to pay the expenses for organizing the wedding reception.
Qazi Mohammed Shakir Adil of Mohammed Nagar Qila Golconda said that his naib (deputy) Waheeduddin could not be blamed. He had checked the age of the girl given in the Aadhaar card and proceeded to perform the ritual. "The qazis have no means to find out the real age of the girls. We have to go by some certificate, as in the Aadhaar card in this case. He cannot be held responsible. It is a serious case of police high-handedness. We will fight against it," he said.