By U. Sudhakar Reddy
Hyderabad, Oct. 11: Sleuths who raided the office of Qazi Waheed Qureshi were shocked to discover that Hyderabad's "bride bazaar" had been catering to "clie-nts" from across the world, including the US, Somalia and Ethiopia. This is in addition to grooms who constantly sneak in from Yemen, Oman, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They arrested the qazi for marrying off two young women from Hyderabad to a pair of Omani twins and hiding the fact that were epilepsy patients.
The police arrested a total of three qazis and two brokers for marrying off the two young women. Sameena Begum, 23, and Nazia Begum, 20, are reportedly leading miserable lives at Alkhaboora, in Sohar town in Oman, and have informed their parents that they were being physically tortured by their husbands. The police swung into action after the parents informed them that they had received desperate calls from their daughters, who are virtually imprisoned in their husbands' houses in Oman.
It was discovered that Qureshi himself performed eight marriages in the past two years for grooms from a variety of the countries. "Earlier they used to conduct these marriages over the phone," said a police officer. "Now they are giving power of attorney through a representative and conducting the marriage in the presence of photographs." Qureshi was accused in a similar case in 2005 at Kalapattar police station, where he authorised the marriage of an Oman national to two girls together.
"Without such marriages the parents of these girls will never be able to construct such big houses," said Qureshi, who is now in the custody of the Santoshnagar police. "The bridegrooms come from many countries across the globe."The police also discovered that Qureshi's authority to continue as qazi was put on hold in August, but many marriages were performed prior to that. The seized documents from his house revealed that grooms from Yemen, Sudan, the US, Ethiopia and Somalia had married several women from the city in the last two years.
"We will translate these documents into English to find out whether irregularities have taken place," said Mr Sai Krishna. "We are going to trace the brides to find out if they are being victimised."The girls were married to the Omani twins on July 18 this year. The grooms claimed to be government officials but were epilepsy patients living on meagre social security. "The qazis and the brokers concealed facts," said inspector S. Sai Krishna.
"They told the parents of the girls that the Omani grooms were rich."Apart from Qureshi, alias Sajid, 43, a qazi staying in Old Santoshnagar Colony, Syed Shanawaz, 50, a marriage broker of Riyasatnagar, his sister Mumtaz Begum, 40, Mohammed Zaheeruddin, 50, a chief qazi of Nacharam, and M.A. Rasheed, 33, a nayab qazi of Nallagutta, were arrested.The police has also registered cases against the Omani grooms, identified as Yousuf Bin Salim Thani Al Busadi, who married Nazia, and Mohammed Bin Salim Al Bussaid, who married Sameena. The marriage was performed in the absence of the grooms. Only their photographs were present.
Nazia's mother Surayya Begum, 42, said she had objected when Mumtaz and Shahnawaz suggested that the marriage be performed with a photograph. "But chief qazi Zaheeruddin convinced me that it is permitted in our religion," she said. Nazia left for Oman on September 27. "A day later she called up and said that her husband was a madman," said her mother. "He is torturing my daughter."Sameena's father, Syed Mustafa, said he could not read the marriage documents since they were in Arabic. "The parents of the girls got Rs 4,000 each and the mediators Rs 8,000 each," said inspector Sai Krishna. "Qureshi was paid Rs 26,000 and he gave Rs 1,000 to Rasheed."Qazi Zaheeruddin, however, said the documents brought by the representatives of the Omani grooms were legal. "There is no fault on our side," said Qureshi, adding, "Even the waqf board gave its certification for the marriage."The police said the Indian embassy in Oman has been informed of the plight of the girls. "Our priority is to get them back to India," said Mr Sai Krishna.
A senior police officer said the poverty and greed of the parents were the main reasons for such marriages. "In the latest incident, one girl's mother is a maid servant and the other's father is a radio repairman," he said.
(Published in Deccan Chronicle and Asian Age on 12/10/2006)
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