Hyderabad: Shabana Sultana from Old City Hyderabad was only 13 when she reluctantly agrees to marry a Saudi national 20 years ago.
Lived as the 31st wife of 90-year-old husband Al Sugaihi Ali Abdullah, Shabana was forced to return Hyderabad along with her two kids and has approached MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan for her daughter who is still in Saudi Arabia.
In a report published by Deccan Chronicle, Shabana said that her daughter was held as captive by Abdullah’s family who prevented her to communicate with the mother.
Sultana gave consent to marry Al Abdullah after her elder sister (who was already married to a Saudi trader in Riyadh) promised her rich life and that, after his death, “all his property will be hers.”
In March 1996, Shabana and Al Abdullah (Shabana elder sister’s brother-in-law) got married without official documents legalizing their marriage in Saudi Arabia.
After marriage, he stays with her for 20 days and flew back to Saudi leaving behind Sultana to stay with her parents.
Thrice he visited Hyderabad and she was blessed with three kids.
In May 2015, when Sultana and kids landed in Riyadh on visit visa, they were locked up to a small room. They sometimes have to survive with no food and water.
“He would come to me once in three days, lock my children in another room and have intercourse with me and leave. If I refused he would assault me and abuse me. I pleaded him to leave me, but he was adamant,” Sultana to DC.
And it was during her stay, she learned that she was his 31st wife after persons in the age-group of 25 to 60, identifying themselves as her husband’s children.
On Shabana’s behalf, MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan lodged a petition with the Ministry of External Affairs.