Hyderabad: Bridegroom, 2 others arrested in contract marriage case

Hyderabad: Police have arrested three people including a bridegroom and a Muslim cleric who used to solemnise marriages following a sting operation on contract marriages by IBN7. The Muslim cleric has been suspended by the Minority Commission and the police are also investigating the role of some others in the case. The cleric and his associates used to target girls from poor families and get them married for a few months in exchange for huge sums of money. After a few months the girls were abandoned by their husband.

The incident of contract marriage was reported from Falaknuma area of Hyderabad and three people including the youth getting married were arrested. The Muslim cleric, who has been arrested, used to promise his clients contract marriages for six to eight months.

According to Hyderabad Police officials such incidents were reported earlier too but the investigators failed to find the role of an organised gang behind it. Such contract marriages were then seen as isolated incidents.

The cleric used to target girls from poor families and get them married for a few months in exchange for huge sums of money.

Meanwhile, IBN7 reported about a contract marriage in Hyderabad in 2011 when the locals caught a cleric involved in this. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, thanked the channel for uncovering the incident. He said that such contract marriages were a form of prostitution and he would ask the government to take the strictest possible action against the culprits.

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