16-year-old girl married off to 65-year-old Arab Sheikh

HYDERABAD, India: An underage marriage was reported from Indian city Hyderabad where a teenage girl was married off to an Arab Sheikh allegedly against the teenager’s parents.

A minor from Hyderabad has been married off to an elderly sheikh based in Oman for a payment of Rs 5 lakh. Her parents approached the local police station and filed a complaint.

Her family on Wednesday alleged that the 16-year-old had been fraudulently married off to Ahmed, a 65-year-old Omani national. The teenager’s parents have been pleading the authorities to help them bring the girl back from Muscat, where she was taken after marriage.

In her complaint, the teen’s mother Unnisa alleged that her sister-in-law Ghousia colluded with her husband Sikander to fudge documents with a Qazi’s help. The mother added that without her knowledge, they performed her daughter’s nikaah (matrimonial contract) with the elderly sheikh at a hotel in Barkas area of Hyderabad Old City before last Ramzan.

The mother also alleged that for this unethical contractual marriage, the Omani Sheikh paid Rs 5 lakh to Ghousia and Sikander.

This is not the first time such a case has been reported from the city, which is otherwise known for its cultural heritage and close association with Arabs.

The nexus of contractual marriages mainly of minor girls from poor families to Arab Sheikhs by Qazis or distant relatives is rampant. These sheikhs come to the city to find ‘suitable’ brides after paying amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to lakhs of rupees.

15-year-old boy weds 73-year-old woman

A teenage boy has married his 73-year-old lover in a remote village on Indonesia’s Sumatra couple of months ago after the unconventional couple threatened a double suicide if their match was thwarted.

The romance began when septuagenarian Rohaya Binti Kiagus Muhammad Jakfar took care of her neighbour Selamet Riyadi, 15, who was suffering from malaria, the local village chief said.

“Selamet is too young to marry but we married them anyway because he threatened to commit suicide,” village chief Cik Ani, told a wire service, adding local officials also wanted them to “avoid the sin of adultery”.

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