Arabs may be asked about marital status

HYDERABAD: In the wake of controversy over ''contract'' marriages with city girls by aged Arabs, the Andhra Pradesh government on Friday said it would urge the Centre to ask the Gulf countries to issue a certificate on the marital status of men wishing to marry here.
Revealing this, Minister for Minorities and Wakf, Mohd Fareeduddin told reporters here that he had a meeting with Qazis in the city over the vexed issue.
Fareeduddin said that a Sadar Qazi Ali Abdullah Raffai, who was taken into custody by police for performing marriage to a 73-year-old UAE national with a city girl recently, was placed under suspension by Wakf Board pending enquiry.
The government also issued a notice to Wakf Board CEO to submit a detailed report on the controversy of contract marriages within two weeks, he said.
The controversy of a marriage by a UAE national Mohammed Jaffar Yaqoob Al Jorani (73) with a city girl last month was unearthed when Haseena Begum, daughter of a retired government employee lodged a complaint with police alleging that her Arab husband had ditched her after spending two days with her and was planning to marry another girl.
Referring to 5 per cent reservation to minorities in the government jobs, the Minister said that a committee would be constituted shortly to go into the issue.