Cops continue crackdown on contract marriages

Hyderabad: Continuing its crackdown on fecilitators of child marriages to Arab nationals, the city police arrested two more accused Qazi Ali Abdullah Rifai and his aide Nayab Qazi Ibrahim on Tuesday. They also arrested three Omani nationals, including a septuagenarian, who were in the city for ‘trafficking minor girls’ in the guise of ‘contract marriages’.

According to the police, Al Sheyadi Sulaiman bin Khamis bin Salam, 70, who was in Hyderabad to get married, changed his statements following arrests of five of his fellow countrymen recently. He who had claimed to have permission letter by Sultanate of Oman, later stated that he was on a visit to India for treatment. However, after the arrest of Qazi Rifai, the police recovered incriminating documents related to him. During the interrogation, the Qazi (also known as ‘Volta Qazi’) also confessed about his intentions of ‘marrying a young girl’.

Speaking to media persons on Tuesday, DCP V Satyanarayana said the special teams were deployed as part of crackdown on this ‘syndicate’ operating in the Old City. All three Omani nationals were arrested based on the confession of the Qazi.

“As per the norms and guidelines of Qazi Act, Rifai’s job was to perform marriages, issuing marriage certificates and writing talaaq or khula proceedings related to marriage. But instead of restricting himself to his legitimate duties, he indulged in providing girls to the foreign nationals by maintaining a network of middlemen and women to search the girls,” informed the official.

During investigations, it was found that another accused from Oman, Al Shayadi Mohammed Khalfan Mohammed (broker), is known to Qazi Rifai and visited India along with other Oman nationals to help them marry young girls. During the current visit, the accused brought Al Sheyadi and played a role of middleman.

“The investigation is underway to find out the other victims who were trapped and exploited by the accused and trafficked to Oman and other Gulf countries. Qazi Rifai was in contact with the Omani brokers through WhatsApp and mobile phone calls regularly. The police have also obtained the call data records of the Qazi and analyzing it,” added the DCP.

Another Omani national Al Awdi Yasir Abullah Hamdan who is currently married to a woman from Talabkatta felicitated marriage of a visually challenged 75-year-old Omani national, Abdullah Mubark, who allegedly indulged in ‘contract of marriage’ (short-term marriage) 10 times.

Satyanarayana informed that apart from five arrests, the police were taking steps to deport two Omani nationals Abdullah Mubarak (who married 10 women) and Al Shayadi Sulaiman Khamis Mohammed to their country, with the help of Omani Embassy.

“When police tried to locate the 10 victims, most of them were found to have shifted their residences, while those who were contacted requested to keep their identity a secret,” added the official.

It may be mentioned here that on September 20, the City police had busted the 'contract marriage' racket and arrested 20 persons including five Oman and three Qatar nationals, who are accused of attempting to marry the girls. They also arrested three Qazis, including Farid Ahmed Khan, a Chief Qazi of Mumbai.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy had then said that they have identified 35 brokers including 25 women and unearthed the network spread from Hyderabad to Oman and other Gulf countries.