HYDERABAD: In the wake of a recent incident in which a 16-year-old girl from Nawab Saheb Kunta in Hyderabad was sold to a 65-year-old Oman national in the name of marriage by her relatives, the Minorities Welfare Department of Telangana government, confirmed on Friday that a proposal seeking a law to prevent cases of trafficking of girls overseas through forced marriage is under examination with Telangana government. Minorities Welfare Department, TS Secretary Syed Omer Jaleel told Express, “The department has submitted a document seeking a stringent law to prohibit cases of trafficking of women, with law department, TS government.
Generally, the families which are tricked by foreign nationals into marrying their girls to them are poor and illiterate. So we have asked the state government to frame a law which sets legal regulations to have adhered for a foreign national who is willing to marry a girl from TS.”
In such cases, it should be mandatory for the person willing to marry a girl from here to submit an application with the police station that falls under the jurisdiction of the girl’s residence, demands the document.
“The application should be verified by a police official of at least a sub inspector’s rank. The marriage should take place and be considered legitimate only after the concerned person receives an NOC from the police for it. It should also be made compulsory that the marriage takes place in the presence of at least one official from the Minorities Welfare Department. The woman getting married to such a person should mandatorily remain in touch with Minorities Welfare Department officials for verification purpose. If the groom and the marriage contractors do not abide by the legislation, they should suffer a jail term under relevant CrPC and IPC sections,” further demands the document.
Once the proposal becomes an ordinance, we will make sure it is passed into the Assembly so that a law is framed at the earliest, said Jaleel.
Meanwhile, girl’s mother said that she is waiting for the Falaknuma police to arrest Sikander, her brother-in-law who allegedly sold his daughter to the Omani Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Amur. “I had spoken to my daughter after her wedding and I know she is in a lot of trouble. I don’t want to say much, I only want her safe home,” she told Express.ACP, Falaknuma police, Tajuddin Ahmad said, “We are yet to arrest the accused. The case is under probe.”