MADURAI: Anfeeya Begum and Gareesh Khan were to get hitched on Sunday, or so they thought, till they came to know that there was an impediment to their marriage. The jamaat, which was supposed to register their marriage, refused to do it, saying the bride's father was not a jamaat member.
But the couple received their wedding gift in advance from the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, which came to their rescue by directing the jamaat to register the marriage. Justice GR Swaminathan passed the order on Friday on a petition filed by Anfeeya Begum’s father, Hakkim Deen, of Madurai.
Deen submitted that he gave a representation to the jamaat’s president on January 27, seeking to schedule his daughter’s marriage. But it was rejected at the eleventh hour due to political motive, he alleged. Deen alleged that the jamaat rejected his representation because he is the district secretary of the Madurai BJP’s minority wing.
He also stated this when he appeared before the judge on Friday. However, Advocate Mahaboob Athiff, who appeared on behalf of the jamaat, contended that the representation was rejected only on the premise that the petitioner was not a member of the jamaat.
‘Deen wedding filed in same jamaat in 1988’
Deen's counsel, K Gokul, argued that Deen was very much a jamaat member. He added that Deen's marriage was also registered in the same jamaat in 1988, and that his father-in-law, who is also a BJP functionary, is still a member of the jamaat.
However, the counsel for jamaat stated that the same does not infer that Deen was a jamaat member
Justice Swaminathan noted that Begum has always been residing in the locality falling under the jamaat. "I feel that even while carrying on its contest against the petitioner, the jamaat should magnanimously come forward to facilitate the marriage," he said, and directed the jamaat to register the couple's marriage and complete other formalities.
He, however, clarified that the same does not confer any right on Deen in the issue pertaining to his membership in the jamaat.