Oman issued a travel advisory for its citizens in Hyderabad following heightened surveillance on Arab nationals in the last few days. The Oman’s consulate in Mumbai through its Twitter handle, @omanconmumbai, had warned its nationals against venturing in to the Falaknuma area in Hyderabad till further notice. Though the consulate did not specify the exact reason, it is understood that the advisory was related to Hyderabad police’s crackdown on a network facilitating illegal marriages of minors and young Muslim girls with older Arab citizens.
Hours after the advisory was issued, the Hyderabad police commissioner held a press meet announcing the arrest of foreign nationals, marriage brokers, lodge owners, and agents from Hyderabad and Mumbai. They were actively involved in a racket in which gullible and poor girls were being married off to Arab sheikhs for money.
Among those arrested are five Omani and three Qatari nationals, three Qazis, four lodge owners and five brokers. Another 35 brokers, mostly women, have been identified but they are yet to be arrested.
The Hyderabad police started probing the issue after a case, in which a minor girl was married to a sheikh from Oman, came to light last month.
Mahender Reddy, Hyderabad police commissioner, said that such brokers, arranging contract marriages, were spread across India and the Gulf nations. He said that some victims are taken back to the country of the groom, only to be exploited, while others were dumped a few days after marriage.
Farid Ahmed Khan, chief qazi of Mumbai has been identified as a kingpin of the racket, actively involved in trafficking girls to Oman. He was also presented before the media.
Police teams raided lodges in old city and took Omani nationals in custody for questioning. According to the officials, a child marriage was prevented after one person, Al Mayahi Habib Ali Issa, confessed that he was in the city to marry a 15-year-old girl.
The Hyderabad police is also planning to geo-tag the offices of the accused qazis, brokers, and the lodges notorious for supporting illegal marriages, for constant monitoring.
The state minority welfare department was handed over a set of suggestions by the police department to ensure that such cases do not repeat in the future.
