Shoaib Malik may be prevented from leaving India

Sunday, April 4, 2010

 Hyderabad: Former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, against whom ‘first wife’ Ayesha Siddiqui filed a complaint on Sunday, may not be allowed to leave India.

Hours after the complaint was registered at the Banjara Hills police station, charging the cricketer with harassment and cheating, Hyderabad police chief AK Khan said all international airports in the country have been alerted about the criminal plaint. This could block Malik’s exit from India.

Earlier in the day, Ayesha had alleged that she was offered $1 million to declare in front of the media that she didn’t have a relationship with Malik. She further accused Malik of frequently calling her and asking her to stay tightlipped on the issue. The complaint also mentioned Malik’s brother-in-law, Imran Zafar.

The police have registered a case against Malik under sections 498-A (subjecting a woman to cruelty by husband or relative of the husband), 420 (cheating), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"We are seeking legal opinion on arresting Shoaib Malik or even confiscating his passport since he is a foreign national,” additional police commissioner D Tirumala Rao said.

A senior criminal lawyer said, “If the police are registering the case under section 498A, it means they are convinced that Malik is the complainant’s husband. Slapping this section is likely to trigger a major controversy.”

Another senior criminal lawyer told the media, that all these sections are cognisable. “If the police find any prima facie evidence as per the complaint, the accused would be arrested immediately. But it all depends on the officers handling the case. There are always exceptions,” he said.

Malik has the option of seeking anticipatory bail as a foreign national. “He can claim relief since the complaint is registered here. Since the accused is a foreign national, the police have to follow a certain procedure,” the lawyer said.

What is interesting, however, is the timing of the complaint. The court is not functioning on Monday for Malik to seek anticipatory bail.

Malik is set to marry tennis star Sania Mirza on April 15, but the Siddiquis want the cricketer to officially divorce Ayesha before that.

Malik has said he never saw the Ayesha shown to him in photographs and also dismissed the nikahnama with his signature produced by the Siddiquis.

A source close to Malik told the media that he is determined to get out of this mess. “The families of Malik and Mirza have consulted Islamic scholars on the validity of the nikahnama. Malik has even hired a lawyer to argue his case.

"It looks like he is confident of going ahead with the wedding and getting over the dispute,” the source said.

Malik said Islamic scholars maintain that a telephone nikah is invalid. He quoted Mohammed Khader Ali, sadar qazi (chief qazi) of Hyderabad and president of the Andhra Pradesh Association for Qazis, and Muslim law to prove that his alleged marriage to Ayesha was not valid.

But a four-cleric bench of the Darul Iftah Jamiat-ul-Mominat issued a fatwa on Sunday declaring a telephone nikah valid. The fatwa was issued by a male and three female clerics with mufti Mastan Ali Qadri’s signature.

The religious seminary has produced the highest number of female clerics in the country.