Grit and determination of two women from the United Arab Emirates to meet their mother separated from them nearly three decades ago finally resulted in their reunion, thanks to the Hyderabad police.
Joy of Ayesha and Fatima knew no bounds as they met their mother Nazia Begum, 60, at the office of the South zone DCP at Purani Haveli in the Old City on Thursday afternoon. They screamed, hugged and wept as their life-time ambition of meeting their mother had materialised.
Nazia of Santoshnagar got married to UAE national Rasheed Eid Obaid Rifaq Masmari at a qazi’s office in the Old City in 1981. “Rasheed took the woman to Fujairah province in the UAE after a few months. Only on landing there did Nazia realise that he was already married to a local there,” DCP V. Satyanarayana told The Hindu .
Tortured
Nazia was eventually blessed with Ayesha and Fatima, who are now 29 years and 26 years old. “For some reason, Rashid began subjecting Nazia to physical and mental torture after the birth of the children. One day, he told her that they were flying to Hyderabad,” the DCP said.
He took Nazia and the two daughters to the airport and got into the flight. Minutes before takeoff, he got off the flight along with the two girls. Nazia had no option but to remain in the flight and later landed at Hyderabad.
Her parents later performed her marriage with a fruit vendor from Bidar in Karnataka where she had been living all these years. “Rashid died of illness seven years ago. On learning that they were born of Rashid and Nazia, his daughters wanted to meet their mother,” the DCP said.
Only link
They stumbled upon an old photo of their mother in their house. Carrying the photo, the only link to trace their mother, the two women first came to Hyderabad three years ago but had to return to the UAE with disappointment. They came again in January this year and met the DCP who formed a special team with Additional DCP K. Babu Rao.
They started searching for qazis who performed marriages in Old City 30 years ago. After dusting off old papers available with them and interacting with mediators who performed marriages with foreigners, they traced the house of Nazia in Bidar and went there to meet her.
“When Nazia told us that her younger daughter had six fingers on right hand, we checked with Fatima who admitted to have undergone surgery and got the sixth finger removed,” the DCP said.
