BOMBAY, 10 October 2005 — Muslim Bollywood artists led by film and stage writer-director Mujeeb Khan have requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a lenient view of runaway Saudi woman Benawi Thawab and grant her a long-term visa and eventually Indian nationality so she can stay with her husband in India.
Speaking to Arab News after a court in Bombay granted Thawab bail, Mujeeb Khan said Thawab did not deserve to be punished or persecuted, but should be given support as “she had done nothing wrong or illegal.” The court granted Thawab , who is five months’ pregnant, bail, but extended the police remand of her Indian husband until Tuesday.
“Thawab has married a Muslim according to Islamic rites and become pregnant only after marriage. She has not indulged in adultery. So what’s her crime? Islam does not ban a Muslim from marrying another Muslim, based on caste or nationality,” said Mujeeb.
He conceded that Thawab had come to India on false documents, but that, he said, was not a crime that warranted such a harsh punishment as deportation when she was legally married to an Indian Muslim. The government should look into her case from a humanitarian angle, added Mujeeb.
