T’PURAM/KOZHIKODE: Putting an end to speculations, Rubeena Buruhanuddin landed safely at Thiruvananthapuram airport around 1 pm on Monday. Though she was expected to arrive on Sunday, technical snag had delayed the deportation procedures. Social Justice Minister M K Muneer and MLAs Varkala Kahar and K M Shaji received her at the airport, along with family members. The minister also visited her house in Odayam, Varkala and assured support in rehabilitating her.
“I can’t fully follow Malayalam now. It’s a mix of Malayalam and Dhivehi now. I can’t follow fully what you are asking me. All that I know is I’m back at home, with my parents. I’m so happy. Thanking you all, who supported me, without even meeting me even once,” Rubeena said. Voluntary support of a Maldivian advocate Fareesha Abdulla, who came to know of Rubeena through a political detainee, was instrumental in the deportation of the woman on Monday. Rubeena’s plight was brought to the attention of the world by ‘Express’ on January 5. The news of her release comes after the strong intervention by the online forum ‘Right of Return’, formed to help Indians unlawfully trapped in foreign jails.
It was formed after the miraculous escape of Jayachandran Mokeri, a schoolteacher from Kozhikode and illegally held in Maldives. Following his release, his friends - journalists Moidu Vanimel, K P Rasheed and A K Sreejith, writer Myna Umaiban, RTI activist Mahesh Vijayan - turned a Facebook page earlier made as ‘Save Jayachandran Mokeri’ to ‘Save Rubeena’ and campaigned in all the strata available, along with the online campaigns.
They could get online signature from nearly 8,300 people from around the world and the petition was personally handed over to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by BJP state president V Muraleedharan. While the rescue operations were being made for Rubeena, another Thiruvananthapuram resident Nabeesa Beevi, who was paralysed and left with no friends and relatives, was also found. She was also brought back and is being taken care of by the Social Justice department. Both these women are victims of ‘Malekalyanam’, were poor girls from Kerala are married off to Maldivian nationals in lieu of money. This practice is more in southern districts of Kerala, like Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. The women, after marriage, leave for Maldives, but rarely get Maldivian citizenship and continue as Indian citizens.
After the ‘Save Rubeena’ campaign intensified, Rubeena’s mother Shafeeqa Beevi could travel to Maldives and meet her daughter after five years. They were assisted there by Indian High Commission and India Club. The Prosecutor-General in Maldives withdrew her case for further review on March 10 and Rubeena was shifted to remand. She was held in Dhoonidhoo detention centre on charges of killing her 10-month-old baby Ahmed Saib Hassan, and attempting suicide on the same day. Rubeena was wedded off to Maldivian national Hassan Jabir under ‘Malekalyanam’. Jabir divorced Rubeena while she was under detention. Rubeena was denied the assistance of a lawyer during earlier trials (Fareesha stepped in a later stage after hearing about the case) and the hearings were in Dhivehi, the official language of Maldives. Her knowledge of Dhivehi was very limited.
The police conducted investigation and questioned her without the assistance of a translator and she was made to sign a statement written in Dhivehi which she could not read. Rubeena was prosecuted for attempting suicide while there was clear indication of depression as she was not assessed by a psychologist.