End of Saudi ordeal: Saira Banu set to return on June 3; husband, agent booked

Ch Sushil Rao / TNN / May 31, 2017, 12:00 IST

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Saira Banu, the 23-year-old woman from Shah Ali Banda who was allegedly sold to a sheik in Saudi Arabia, has been rescued.She will return to the city on June 3.

End of Saudi ordeal: Saira Banu set to return on June 3; husband, agent booked

HYDERABAD: Saira Banu, the 23-year-old woman from Shah Ali Banda who was allegedly sold to a sheik in Saudi Arabia, has been rescued.She will return to the city on June 3.
On Tuesday, Saira Banu sent a WhatsApp message to her family saying that her ticket to return to Hyderabad from Riyadh had been booked for June 2 by the family she was being made to work for. She will arrive in the city the following day.
Shah Ali Banda police have registered a case under IPC section 498A (dowry case) and section 420 (cheating) against Saira Banu's husband Mohd Omer and agent Hajira Bee who sent her to Riyadh.The complaint was lodged against them by Saira Banu's mother Banu Begum.The FIR was registered on May 28 and investigation began shortly thereafter. “Not only did we book a case, we made the agent take immediate steps to bring back Saira Banu,“ Shah Ali Banda sub-inspector K Pratap Reddy, the investigation officer in the case, told TOI.
Saira Banu had gone to Riyadh on May 2. Her hus band had reportedly told her that she would be paid `50,000 per month.

The case of Saira Banu, the mother of a two year-old baby girl, has a curious twist with the woman alleging that her husband had sold her to a Saudi sheik for `5 lakh. She also that said she was tricked into giving `khula' (divorce initiated by a woman) by her husband Mohd Omer, on April 29 just two days before her departure to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Saira Banu's brother Mohammed Moinuddin obtained a copy of the `khula' from a qazi at Golconda who formalized the divorce between Saira Banu and Omer. In WhatsApp messages sent by Saira Banu from Riyadh, she informed her family that her husband Omer had tricked her into signing the `khula'. He had told her that if she initiated the divorce, according to Sharia, he would be able to marry her again.
While Saira Banu is set to return, thanks to police intervention, a larger issue that needs to be probed is the Gulf racket that thrives in Old City. Saira Banu was sent on a visit visa to Saudi Arabia and then smuggled into that country and made to work as a housemaid.

About the Author

Ch Sushil Rao

Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.

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