Soon after details of a case of child marriage and international trafficking emerged in which a 15-year-old girl from Hyderabad was married off to a sheikh based in Oman, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has written to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj seeking her intervention to help bring the girl back.
The 15-year-old girl was allegedly forced into marrying a 65-year-old Omani national, Ahmed, days before Ramzan by her aunt and uncle in exchange for Rs 5 lakh. It was only when the girl's parents filed an FIR at the Falaknuma police station that the matter came to light.
Calling the incident "deeply disturbing", Gandhi sought an action taken report from the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police. Gandhi has also asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to reach out to the girl's family.
As per the complaint filed by the girl's mother, the girl's paternal aunt, Ghousia, took her away from the family, and fabricated papers to show that she was not underage. Ghousia and her husband, Sikander, with the help of a qazi, took the underage girl to a hotel and married her off to the sheikh, for which they were paid Rs 5 lakh in exchange.
Additional inspector T Murali Krishna said the woman told police that her daughter, who is now in Muscat, called her up some days ago and said that her husband was ill-treating her.
"When the woman spoke to him on phone and asked him to send her daughter back, he said he had paid Rs 5 lakh to Sikander and that she should return the money first," the police officer said.
Police has registered a case against Sikander, his wife, the Omani national and two of Sikander's friends for cheating and criminal intimidation.
—Agency input
Cheating
In exchange for Rs 5 lakh, 15-year-old girl was allegedly forced into marrying a 65-year-old Omani national
A case has been registered by the police against the girl’s aunt, uncle and his two friends for cheating and criminal intimidation
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