One email frees woman from illegal custody of husband in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: As soon as she got a chance to send an email to her family, Sadia was able to inform them that she was being kept in illegal custody by her husband.

Sadia and Shahrukh got married in Houston, US, and moved to Pakistan in November 2009. From the day they arrived, however, Shahrukh allegedly confined his wife to their apartment in Yousuf Heights in Hyderabad’s Latifabad neighbourhood.

Sadia claims that she was not allowed to speak to anyone over the phone and he did not let her step out of the house.

It was by chance that she managed to email her family and inform them of her living conditions.

Sadia’s uncle, Muhammad Younas, who is a resident of Karachi, filed a petition at the court. He claimed that his niece was being kept in illegal custody for the past seven months.

The circuit bench of the Sindh High Court Hyderabad directed the Latifabad A Section police to recover the woman. SHO A Section Rao Nazim conducted a raid late Thursday and found Sadia. She was immediately taken to the women police station where she was reunited with her family.

When the reporters and cameraman of Express News reached Sadia’s apartment on Thursday, her family members misbehaved with cameraman Naseem Khan and beat him up. Several neighbours came to his aid as the police failed to give him any protection.

In a statement recorded with the police, Sadia claimed that her husband held her in captivity as soon as they arrived in Hyderabad.

He also allegedly stole her passport and other documents so that she could not escape, she said, accusing her husband of marrying her to obtain American citizenship. However, during the raid on Thursday, the police failed to find her documents.

According to the police, Sadia made it clear in her statement that she did not wish to go back to her husband.

On Friday, she was presented in civil court No 9, where her statement was recorded under Section 164 fo the Criminal Procedure Code. After the hearing, Sadia was allowed to leave with her uncle.

Sadia told the court that she married Shahrukh of her own will in America. She pleaded the court to now allow her to go with her uncle. For his part, Shahrukh requested permission to meet his wife at the hearing but she refused to talk to him.

Sadia was taken away by her uncle and other family members and was not allowed to talk to the media.

Her lawyer informed the media that she has expressed her wish to leave Pakistan with her uncle, reported PPI news agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2010.