A 60-year-old Saudi Arabian sheik appeared in court Sunday, a day after he was arrested for marrying a 10-year-old Indian girl and trying to take her home with him.
The girl's cries for help alerted passengers on a domestic flight Saturday and led to his arrest minutes after the plane touched down in New Delhi. She had allegedly been sold by her impoverished family.The case was unusual but not unheard of. Newspapers occasionally carry stories of young poor girls being sold, with a growing reported demand in the Persian Gulf in recent years for young Indian Muslim brides.
Arranged marriages between children are more common, but in most cases the children stay at home until puberty. The legal age to marry in India is 18, although the law is only sporadically enforced.
Ameena Begum was married Thursday to Sheik Yahya H.M. al-Sagish after he had paid $4,077 to Begum's father, a rickshaw driver in the southern city of Hyderabad, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.
The amount would be roughly equal to six years' earnings for a rickshaw driver. The Times said Ameena was the second oldest in a family of six daughters and two sons.
Investigators said the sheik was suspected to be part of a slave-running gang. Police told Magistrate V.K. Maheshwari the Saudi sheik had photographs of four young girls in his possession, including one of Ameena Begum.
Along with a marriage certificate for Begun, al-Sagish also was holding one for a 32-year-old woman whose whereabouts are unknown.
Maheshwari ordered al-Sagish, a stout man with a stringy beard, to remain in police custody for two days, pending further investigation.
Police said more time was needed for interrogation because al-Sagish did not know much Hindi or English and police needed an Arabic-speaking interpreter.
During the hearing, the sheik said in broken Hindi that he was ill and repeatedly asked to be allowed to remain seated.
He was apprehended minutes after flying with Ameena from Hyderabad to New Delhi on Saturday, The Times newspaper reported. They apparently were intending to change planes and fly on to the Middle East.
After boarding the plane, Ameena began crying and said she had been forced to marry the Saudi and wanted to get away from him.
Passengers complained to the crew, and a flight attendant helped inform the control tower in New Delhi of the problem. Al-Sagish was charged with illegally marrying a minor.