BOMBAY, 3 October 2005 — The Bombay police arrested a 25-year-old Saudi woman, Thawab, and her alleged Indian husband, Hidayat Sarwat Khan on Friday. They were charged with using forged documents to enable the Saudi woman to enter India. The police refused to disclose where the woman was from, citing security considerations. But the electronic and print media were able to interview the couple.
According to police sources, Thawab ran away in December 2004. Her family subsequently registered a complaint at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah as well as the Saudi Consulate in Bombay. Khan said that they had married at a mosque in Calcutta on March 25, 2005 and since then they have lived as man and wife.
In July 2005, the Saudi Consulate in Bombay interviewed the couple. Thawab told the Saudi officials that she did not want to return to Saudi Arabia but wanted instead to live in India with Khan. She also said that her husband’s family had requested the Indian government to grant her Indian citizenship so that she could continue to live with her husband.
At present, the couple are in an Indian jail. Thawab spoke to this reporter and her replies were translated by her husband as she can only speak Arabic.
She maintains that she is very happy with her husband and that she does not want to live away from him, even for a second. She threatened that if force were used to separate her from her husband or send her back to Saudi Arabia, she would kill herself.
Khan said that he had been threatened by his wife’s brothers, not only in Saudi Arabia, when they learned of the couple’s involvement, but also by phone after they had gone to India. The calls had become so abusive that Khan had his phone disconnected. He went on to say that his wife’s sisters call from Saudi Arabia in order to inquire about her welfare.
Police are viewing the case as serious since, as a foreigner using forged documents was smuggled into the country, there are security implications. An Indian in Saudi Arabia Noorul Habibullah allegedly forged the documents enabling Thawab to obtain an emergency certificate (EC) as an Indian national whose name was Abida Habibullah Shaikh. What is causing a great deal of concern is that an EC is issued only to an Indian who does not have valid travel documents.
The EC can be issued only after the applicant’s nationality is verified; this is the responsibility of the consulate or embassy officials. Indian intelligence is investigating how and why Thawab was given an EC and how the consulate officials were satisfied that she was an Indian citizen.
When Hifzur Rahman, consul for press and information at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah was contacted, he reportedly said that the consulate was unaware of the case involving Thawab and Khan and also had no information about how the EC was issued.
In addition, he stated that Thawab’s relatives had not contacted the consulate but now that the consulate was aware of the case, they would contact Thawab’s relatives.
The case of Thawab and Khan has revived memories of a similar case in Jeddah about 15 years ago. According to the story carried at the time by Arab News’ sister publication, Arriyadiah, a Yemeni girl hiding in a bag was smuggled out of the Kingdom through Jeddah seaport by her Egyptian boyfriend.
When the newspaper published the story, the girl’s brothers, who were butchers by profession, threatened the editor in chief.
