Based on the complaint filed by Ayesha Siddiqui, the police registered a case, invoking Section 498(A) under the dowry law which is cognisable, non-compoundable and non-bailable. Cases of cheating and criminal breach of trust have also been lodged against the Pakistani cricketer who arrived here last Friday.
Evidence
Should the police find prima facie evidence of cheating or criminal breach, Shoaib might face arrest on Indian soil. The police may also impound his passport.
After his arrival in Hyderabad, ahead of his April 15 wedding to Sania Mirza, Shoaib was seen practising some dance steps with his fiancee apparently in preparation for the much-hyped marriage. But the smile and the composure vanished on Sunday when Shoaib distributed a statement among mediapersons outside Sania’s residence, admitting to his ‘nikah’ with Ayesha but claiming at the same time that it was invalid.
“Now they are asking for a divorce. To begin with there was no ‘nikah’ because they pressured me into it with the intention to cheat. In Islam, there can only be a divorce if the ‘nikah’ is valid,” the cricketer said.
The Pakistani cricketer’s statement came two days after the Siddiqui family demanded he gave an “official divorce” to 29-year-old Ayesha and appointed a lawyer to sue him in Pakistan. In Karachi, Farooq Hassan, hired by Ayesha’s family to fight her case, said he will decide in a few days on what grounds he would proceed against the cricketer.
Defending himself, Shoaib said: “I was wrongly made to believe that the pictures Ayesha had sent me were of the girl I was marrying. I feel terrible about the mess created by a family that has caused a great grief to my own people and the family of my bride-to-be”.
He said he met Ayesha a number of times but knew her as ‘maha apa’, elder sister of Ayesha, and never got to actually meet the girl in the photographs sent to him. The Pakistani cricketer said it was a case of mistaken identity that he got to know that ‘maha apa’ and Ayesha were the same girl.
“We accidentally ran into the truth who Ayesha was. It was the worst moment of my life. No one enjoys being made a fool of and that was exactly how I was made to look. It happened in August 2005. My brother-in-law got a photograph of a teacher in Saudi Arabia who was telling people around her that she was married to me. His nephews were studying in that school,” Shoaib said.
Shoaib said he wanted to marry Ayesha. “I was 20 years then. There was a lot of pressure on me from Ayesha. I called her from a friend’s shop in June 2002 and I got a ‘nikahnama’, signed it, thinking the girl I was marrying was the one in the photograph. I was not happy doing this because I had not told my parents and was emotionally forced to do it,” he explained.
Shoaib said Sania knew the truth and they were now busy preparing for the marriage. “Sania knows the truth and she is very happy,” said Shoaib.