Hyderbad turns bride bazar for rich Arabs
chief Qazi of Hyderabad, who was the kingpin in the racket.
THRIVING ‘MARKET’
For the last four decades, Hyderabad has been the place to go for the Sheiks looking for “virgin brides” in the age group of 12-14 years. Poor Muslim parents are lured by the money these Sheiks are willing to pay for the stopgap marriage.
“The old city has links with Arab countries for ages. Many of Yemen nationals have settled in Barkas area. Through them, Arab Sheiks have started showing interest in Hyderabadi girls,” columnist and Muslim intellectual Mir Ayub Ali Khan said.
The Sheikhs preferred Hyderabadi girls for their pretty look and good physique.
“Besides, they can also do a lot of household works. And most parents are eager to get their daughters married off at a young age because they believe having menstruating girls in the home for long is a sin,” says Jamila.
But Khan says more than the superstition, it is poverty which is driving many Muslim families to the menace.
According to the police, the bridegrooms come from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan and Somalia to Hyderabad in search of girls.
They usually come to Hyderabad on visitor’s visa or sometimes on medical grounds.
“They have local contacts to help them arrange visas and hotel stay,” the DCP said.
Not all of them are rich. Many of them are actually from the lower middle class, who thrive on the royalty paid to them by their governments in lieu of the land taken for oil exploration.
With the Arab Sheiks evincing inter- est in “purchasing” these child brides, it has become a virtual trade and has witnessed the emergence of marriage brokers, who exploit the poverty of Muslim families with many daughters and make a quick buck by arranging their Nikah with their ageing Sheikh clients.
These clients pay handsome sums of money for the marriage – ranging from ~50,000 to ~5 lakh, apart from good clothes, gold and sometimes even houses. The bounty however, is shared by the families, brokers and Qazis.
“In most of the cases, the amount the bride’s family ultimately gets is very meager, but they are happy with that as they don’t have to spend anything on the marriage,” Jamila said.
“In a way, it is a legalised prostitution,” observed Ayub Ali Khan.
Take for instance, the case of Waseem, now 27, who got married to a 70-year-old Dubai Sheik when she was 12-year old.
“I had no idea about Nikah, leave alone physical pleasures. But I was forced to sleep with him just for a week and I became pregnant. Thereafter, he left for Dubai for good and never came back. I gave birth to his daughter. To eke out livelihood, I am learning tailoring and zari work,” Waseem said.
Same is the case with Muneera Fathima (18) of Mangalghat area. Her step father got her married to a 75-year-old Omani national in 2011.
“That man spent two months with me at a resort, far away from my house. He used to torture me for sex every day. After I became pregnant, he quietly left for his country with all the marriage papers. From there, he uttered triple talaq over phone,” she said.
The NGOs are now focusing on the education of the girl child, while police are trying to break the broker-Qazi-Arab nexus to bust the bride selling racket.