They said they wanted nothing more than a divorce. And when Shoaib charged the family with forging the nikahnama that was produced as proof, the Siddiquis lodged a police complaint.

“The chapter is now closed,” Ayesha’s mother said, refusing to take any more questions at a press conference that was addressed on Wednesday afternoon by the interlocutors to the messy affair.

General secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Congress, Abid Rasool Khan, who was one of the team that mediated between the two families, said efforts for a compromise were initiated two days ago.The intervention came as not just the community, but also Islam and Hyderabad were getting a bad name as the two sides exchanged a slew of allegations and threatened to make more murky details public, he said.
The talk of physical intimacy, wedding night clothes and pregnancy and miscarriage scandalised the community. “We were worried about the impact of this controversy on the community.

After holding talks with all three parties, the elders, including ulemas, decided that Shoaib should divorce Ayesha,” said Khan. “There was ego problem, there were misunderstandings and both sides were making allegations,” he said of how the negotiations proceeded.

Happy ending
Sadiqua Babbar, a friend of Ayesha and whose father Shams Babbar was involved in working out the compromise deal, said it was a great relief that the controversy had ended. “She (Ayesha) and all of us are relieved that it finally ended. Everyone is happy that the trauma is over,” she said. “There was no money involved. Clearing of her name was very important,” she said.