WOMEN – 2011 - Indian Social Institute

Married to Pak national, woman fights to keep children with her
A 29-year-old mother of three has appealed to the Kerala High Court not to arrest and deport her
children, all aged below 10, to Pakistan. The high court has stayed the deportation of the children for the
next two months and the state police have begun an inquiry on whether the visa period of the children,
their father and grand mother, all Pakistani nationals, should be extended or not. Eleven years ago, A K
Haseena, a native of Kathiroor in Kannur, married a Pakistani national, Shahid Mohiyudeen. Her
husband, born to Kerala-born parents who had migrated to Pakistan, was known to Haseena’s father,
who too, had migrated to that country. Her mother lived in Kerala. Since the marriage was solemnised in
Pakistan, the local mahallu committee in Kathirur did not issue any marriage certificate. The couple, both
school dropouts, apparently had no idea about the implications. With no document to prove their
marriage, Mohiyudeen had taken Haseena as his cousin — they are first cousins — to Pakistan on a onemonth
visa, which was later extended to six months. As the visa period exhausted, Haseena illegally
stayed back and gave birth to two sons and a daughter, Shoib, Zainul and Husna, who are all Pakistani
nationals. In March, with only a month left for the expiry of her passport, Haseena surrendered before the
authorities and paid a fine, before being ordered out of the country. Mohiyudeen, the children and his
mother Fatima took a one-month visa to accompany Haseena to Kerala to stay with her mother before
the inevitable separation. Her misfortune stems from the fact that Haseena has no documents to prove to
the Indian authorities that she was legally married to Mohiyudeen, 35. As the parting day, April 30, was
nearing, Haseena moved a petition in the high court. “It’s a mother’s plea to live with her children. I cannot
live without my children,” she said. “After my eldest son was born, I wanted to come back to Kerala. But
fearing action against my illegal stay, I stayed back. As the size of the family grew, Mohiyudeen, a daily
wager in a shop, could not meet the expenses,” she added. The family of six managed to raise money for
their journey from Karachi to Lahore to Attari to Delhi and then to Kannur. As per documents, Haseena is
unmarried and the three children came along with their father and hence, have to go back with their
father. Mohiyudeen has sought a two-month extension of visa citing his mother’s poor health. Haseena’s
advocate C Khalid said, “We will apply for the children’s registration as Indian citizens under Section 54 of
the Citizenship Act, 1955.” (IE, 02/05/2011)
Wife has to prove cruelty to get maintenance: HC
MUMBAI: A woman has to prove cruelty, neglect or abandonment to claim maintenance from her
estranged husband, the Bombay high court has ruled. Striking down a family court's order that an
advocate from Nagpur has to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 10,000 to his 66-year-old wife, an HC
division bench of Justice S A Bobde and Justice S B Deshmukh said Seema Patil had failed to prove any
of the charges against her husband, Nilesh: assault, neglect and having a mistress. Though the court
quashed the maintenance order, Nilesh offered to pay Rs 2,500 to Seema every month and also look
after her. "The (wife) failed to establish a case of desertion, neglect, refusal, abandonment or of cruelty to
her by her husband," said the bench, adding, that she had "also failed to establish the presence or
existence of a mistress/concubine/any other woman in the house or life of the husband, entitling her to
claim separate residence without forfeiting her right to maintenance". The couple who married in 1962,
have three grown-up children, all of whom are law graduates. Nilesh is a lawyer who practises in the HC
bench at Nagpur as well as in the Supreme Court. The couple started having differences from 1993 and
in 2001, Nilesh moved court for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. While his petition was dismissed,
Seema filed a case under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, seeking maintenance, following
which, a family court in 2008, ordered Nilesh to pay Rs 10,000 to her. Under the Hindu law, a husband is
obliged to pay for his wife's maintenance and he can be relieved of the liability only if the marriage is
dissolved or if his wife dies or if she is proved to have committed adultery or if she converts to another
religion. A Hindu wife can seek maintenance on the grounds of cruelty, desertion, neglect or even claim
separate home if the husband brings his mistress to their matrimonial home. Though Seema claimed that
Nilesh had hit her twice, the HC could not find any documentary evidence. The charge of neglect also did
not hold water. "The wife could not have been deserted, abandoned or neglected by the husband as she
lives in the same house as her husband, sons and daughter-in-law." She had also been handed over the
possession of the matrimonial house after an agreement with Nilesh. (TOI, 04/05/2011)
HC notice to govt over practice of dayan pratha'