Ghost of sheikhs haunts city girls

HYDERABAD: Even as two Hyderabadi girls escaped from the clutches of their mentally challenged husbands in Oman and have taken shelter at the Indian embassy there, another city girl has refused to go back to her Arab husband in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In her petition to the High Court, she said that her life would be in danger if she returns to the Gulf country.
A division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice D S R Varma and Justice Swaroop Reddy will hear the version of all the parties involved in the case on Wednesday.The court hasn't revealed the name and other details of the 19-year-old petitioner. According to HC sources, the girl was married to a 50-year-old Saudi national last year. The girl told the judges on Monday that her parents forcibly married her to the Arab who harassed and illtreated her because of which she fled Jeddah and returned home. In her petition, she complained that her parents were forcing her to go back to her husband.
Saudi nationals are not permitted to marry a foreigner without obtaining prior permission from their government. The Saudi government had introduced this clause to discourage their men from marrying foreigners. Due to a 'reverse' dowry system, where men have to bear all the expenses of the marriage including providing the bride with a fully furnished home, many Saudi girls remain unmarried. About a dozen cases of poor Hyderabadi girls being married to 'old, infirm and diseased Arabs' have come to light in the last few months.
Meanwhile, the two girls who were given shelter by the Indian embassy in Oman have told their parents over phone that they don't have the money and necessary documents to travel to Hyderabad. These girls, Samina Begum and Nazia Begum were married to two Omani brothers over phone on July 18. When the girls reached Oman last month, they discovered that their husbands were mentally challenged. They were rescued from the clutches of their cruel husbands by Indian embassy officials.