Minor bride helps bust contract marriage racket in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A day after a qazi was arrested for trying to force a minor to marry an Arab in the Old City, the police on Tuesday busted a contract marriage racket and arrested six persons including two qazis. Two Sudanese students and two women brokers who lured minor girls were also arrested.
South zone DCP Vinjeet Brijlal said Mohammed Mohammed Elshafie Mohammed Elthassan alias Ansari, 25, a Sudanese student and the bridegroom, and his friend Khaled Elrashid Khalid, 27, both residents of AC Guards, two women brokers — Zahera Begum, a resident of Kala Pathar, and Ghousia Begum, a resident of Falaknuma — and qazi Shakeel Uddin alias Shakeel and his assistant Syed Abdul Malik, both residents of AC Guards, were arrested for forcing two minors into contract marriage.Police seized passports of the two Sudanese nationals and a blank bond paper containing thumb impressions and signatures of the newly-married bride, Nousheen Begum.
The contract marriage racket came to light when 16-year-old Nousheen Begum lodged a complaint with the Moghalpura police on June 23 stating that her ‘nikah’ (marriage) was performed on June 9 without her consent. She claimed that the nikah was performed at the behest of her mother and two women brokers. Ansari, the Sudanese student, paid Rs 50,000 meher (dowry) to her mother, which was shared by the two mediators and qazis, Nousheen charged in her complaint. She told the police that the Sudanese bridegroom Mohammed Ansari had sex with her and ruined her life .
She requested the police to give her protection from the Sudanese bridegroom as she was wrongfully confined at AB Apartments of Prem Nagar in Khairatabad. She also sought action against his Sudanese friend Khaled, who misbehaved with her. Police said Zahra Begum and Ghousia Begum had been operating in the Old City scouting for poor minor Muslim girls and luring their parents into performing marriages with foreigners. These women took the help of qazis Shakeel and Mallik.
The qazis created Nikah Nama papers, showing that the girl had consented to marry a foreigner. They also showed the minor girl as a major in the document. The women lured the youth from Sudan, who came to Hyderabad for study, into contract marriage under the guise of Nikha.
According to the cops, the contract marriages are actually bonded sexual and menial labour as blank signed documents are taken from the innocent brides at the time of the marriage.
When the student-bridegrooms leave the country after completing their studies, the qazis step in and show evidence with the help of the blank papers that the marriage has been annulled through a divorce, the DCP said.
Based on Nousheen’s complaint, the police booked cases under Sections 366 (Kidnapping or abducting a woman to compel her to marriage, 366 (A) (Procuration of a minor girl), 376 (Rape), 354 (Outrage of modesty), 420 (Cheating), 109 (Abetment of offence) and 498-A (Subjecting a married woman to cruelty of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and took up investigation. The relevant sections of the Immoral Trafficking Act will also be added in the charge sheet, the DCP added.