Shaadi Mubarak scam creates rift in families

Sheik  Akhtar, father of widow accused 

Misappropriating funds intended for the needy through the Shaadi Mubarak scheme has visited embarrassment on four married women who have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

In all, five women accused , including a widow, who were in district jail for four days and got bail are now worried about their future.  

Getting Rs 51,000 as financial help under much hyped Shaadi Mubarak scheme has led to marital discord. Charges framed against the women are that they changed the dates of their marriages to become eligible for the scheme.  

Relatives of the four married women who were involved in the fraud say that the  husbands of these women were threatening their in-laws of breaking off relations  as their wives were facing legal action and spending few days in jail as part of judicial custody.

The men are not at all pleased that these women applied for this financial help without their knowledge with egging on by both sets of parents who too did not share this information with them.

Fathima Shakira, a relative of one of four accused women, said that they were not at fault; rather , they had landed in trouble by accepting financial help  from an agent who offered them Rs 20,000 misguiding them. She regretted that police had  also arrested a woman who was an eligible beneficiary for the scheme.    

In all the cases, the agents approached the poor parents and offered them financial help without telling them about the Shaadi Mubarak scheme and a few greedy parents accepted the deal even after knowing about the ‘offer’ to meet their expenses, thinking that their acceptance would not cause any problem to their daughters.

Sheik Mujeeb of Kinwat of Maharashtra said that he came to know about the Shaadi Mubarak and the alleged involvement of his wife in the fraud only when the Adilabad police called me over the phone and summoned to be present along with wife in the police station for an inquiry.

Shaadi Mubarak grossly misused:

Much to everyone’s surprise, the much hyped Shaadi Mubarak scheme turned into a helping hand for widow instead of poor prospective brides.There are many twists and turns in the implementation of Shaadi Mubarak scheme in the district.

It is found that Rs 51,000 was sanctioned to a widow Taysin Begum, 27, of Adilabad town under Shaadi Mubarak .

Taysin Begum’s husband Akbar of Kinwat of Maharashtra died of cancer in July 2014 and she was staying with her parents in Khanapur Colony in Adilabad. The Shaadi Mubarak scheme is applicable to the prospective brides who got married only after October2, 2014.      

Taysin’s father Shiek Akhtar said some minority leaders came to their house in November 2015 and told them that government was extending financial help of Rs 20,000 to the widows to empower them and lead a dignified life and took her signature, photocopies of their ration card and Aadhaar card. After six months, the minority leaders gave Rs 20,000 to Taysin Begum.   

He said the said leaders did not reveal that they were applying for financial help under Shaadi Mubarak and they came to know of the fraud only after the police summoned them to verify their involvement.       

Three days ago, Adilabad police arrested five women including Taysin Begum on the charges that they have indulged in corrupt practices to get financial help under Shaadi Mubarak.

The other four women arrested were young mothers, Nisha Parveen, Nausheen Khanam, Sheik Shakira and Nagma Sultana. One of them Sultana had a 20 day-old baby with her and all the five were sent to judicial remand.

Congress minority wing leader and Adilabad town president Sajid Khan alleged it was gullible people who were made scapegoats in the Shaadi Mubarak fraud and the real culprits are absconding.

He said misuse of the scheme in any way is fraud and they were not supporting the women in the fraud but what about the real culprits who ran the scam and were close associates of TRS leaders, Minority welfare department, and revenue officials. 

Sajid Khan demanded the police conduct an inquiry into the Shaadi Mubarak scam and arrest the real culprits without yielding to any political pressure.

It is surprising to note that Tahasildar and village revenue officer (VRO) who are supposed to clear the applications after conducting an inquiry had escaped from the fraud saying that their signatures were forged and they were not involved in the fraud.

But, the Minority welfare department officials cleared the applications based on the inquiry conducted by the revenue officials concerned.

There were strong allegations that revenue officials cleared the applications taking the bribes from the agents and now they are hoodwinking the officials saying that their signatures were forged by the agents.

Fathima, a relative of one of the accused women, said the leaders who came to their houses misguided us saying that state government is sanctioning Rs 15,000- Rs 20,000 each to empower the poor Muslims and even going to sanction houses soon.

So far, total Rs 15.81 crore has been released to 3,101 beneficiaries since inception of Shaadi Mubarak in the district.