Hyderabad: The incident of the alleged marriage of a minor girl with a 61-year-old Omani national has taken another twist with the Hyderabad police registering a case against the girl’s parents.
The case was booked at the Falaknuma police station against mother Afzalunnisa and father Mohammed Afsar, even as the first complaint of the case was lodged by the parents that their daughter was married off without their knowledge and now her husband was harassing her.
Police decided to book the case on the basis of a preliminary probe that showed that the parents were very much aware of the marriage, as “the parents could be seen standing in the video of the wedding”, a police official said.
The police took the step as the bride Rukhsarunnisa Begum refused to come back to India and her 61-year-old husband claimed she was happy with the marriage. Assistant Commissioner of police Tajuddin Ahmad said the police was trying to get hold of the marriage certificate of the parents to ascertain the true age of the girl. “If their marriage was 20 years old how the girl can be 24 years old”, he said.
However, in absence of solid evidence, police have not yet arrested the parents.
In a related development, nine accused of contract marriage and women trafficking, including three Qazis (judges) and foreign nationals, were remanded to police custody for questioning.
A police team has taken Head Qazi Fareed Ahmad Khan and his assistant Munavvar Ali to Mumbai to recover the fake documents that were used for child and contract marriages.
Falaknuma police has also opened suspect sheets against the five Qazis, including three from Hyderabad as they were involved in helping in child and contract marriages. “This will help us in monitoring their activities and preventing them from carrying on with their illegal activities”, ACP Tajuddin said.
