Teen illegally married to 65-year-old Omani sheikh; Maneka seeks Sushma's help for girl's return to India

A 16-year-old schoolgirl from Hyderabad was reportedly married off to a 65-year-old Sheikh from Oman three months ago for a sum of Rs 5 lakh. The photos of the wedding were handed over to the police by the girl's parents on Wednesday.

The teenager's parents approached the police on Wednesday alleging that a family member facilitated the marriage three months ago for money after which the girl was taken to Oman without their consent, NDTV reported.

The teenage girl's mother accused her sister-in-law and sister-in-law's husband of having committed the crime for a sum of Rs 5 lakh. She pleaded with the police to help her bring back her daughter from Muscat.

"If you don't save me and take me from here, I will die..." the girl reportedly told her parents in phone messages from Muscat.

Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said that she would request external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to rescue the girl and bring her back to India from Oman. 

"This incident of a 16-yr-old being forcibly married to an elderly man in Oman is deeply disturbing. Have asked the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, to investigate the case and identify the persons who forced this illegal marriage... I would request @SushmaSwaraj to intervene and bring the girl back to India from Oman," Gandhi tweeted.

Gandhi added that she has asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to contact the 16-year-old girl's family members in Hyderabad.

The photographs show the girl, a student of Class 8 in Hyderabad, in what looks like her wedding attire along with an elderly and bearded man wearing a jacket. Another photo showed the man and the girl dressed in white and black respectively. The girl's mother said that they were married by a Qazi in a hotel.

The 65-year-old sheikh allegedly returned to Muscat after the wedding and then sent a visa for his child bride. The mother of the girl said that her daughter cried every time she spoke to her over the phone and told her that she wanted to return home to Hyderabad.

"I spoke directly with the Omani national who married my daughter. He is saying that he paid Rs. 5 lakhs to Sikander (brother-in-law) and his wife and purchased my daughter and wants that money back, then only he will send back my daughter," the woman said in her complaint.