Mangaluru | NRI techie takes his two kids to UAE; wife accuses him of kidnap

Mangaluru, Nov 18: In what appears to be a case of family dispute, a mother of three in Mangaluru taluk has accused her own husband of abducting their two children after he took them to the United Arab Emirates weeks after she gave birth to third child.

The issue came to light after 27-year-old Rishana Nilofer, daughter of a businessman from Ullal on the outskirts of the city, approached Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), whose president Ravindranath Shanbhag on Saturday held a press conference in Udupi and urged Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to intervene.

Mr Shanbhag said that Nilofer approached HRPF on October 1 with a complaint that her husband, Mohammad Shaanib Imeathali, took two of her minor children — Sheraz Abdulla, 6, and Zuha Fathima, one year and five months — on September 18, 2018 with him on the pretext of buying them ice-cream.

The same night, he took them by flight from Mangaluru International Airport to Abu Dhabi, she alleged. Their third child Nuha Mariam, two-and-a-half-months old, is with her in Mangaluru.

After landing at Abu Dhabi, Mr. Imeathali intimated Ms Nilofer that the children were with him, she said. For the next two days, he kept her updated about the children through WhatsApp. After that, there was no communication, she said.

Mr. Imeathali, 35, is an engineer in a firm in Abu Dhabi. Ms. Nilofer married Mr. Imeathali eight years ago. It was an arranged marriage and 130 pawans of gold and a flat in Mangaluru was handed over to the Shanib’s family as dowry. The marriage was solemnized with the consent of both families in the presence of the seniors of the Jamaath. Since her marriage, she was ill-treated by her husband and his family because she was not well-qualified, Ms. Nilofer alleged.

HRPF, besides pursuing the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to get the children back, would also approach the High Court. A case had been registered at Pandeshwar police station, Mr Shanbhag said.