Shoaib still caught in legal mesh

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Hyderabad: Shoaib Malik clearly didn’t see this coming. He may have given ‘talaq’ to Maha Siddiqui on Wednesday hoping to free his mind of the worry of police cases before his marriage, but indications are that it will take some time before he is out of the legal mess.

“An offence under Section 498 A of IPC has been registered against him. This is a serious charge, this can’t be withdrawn against him in one go,” a police official told the Media. Section 498 (A) relates to ‘harassment of a married woman by her husband or his family members’.

Acting on Maha Siddiqui’s letter to the police commissioner seeking withdrawl of all charges against Malik, cops of the Central Crime Station (dealing with the case) are now seeking the opinion of K Sreevani, public prosecutor of the 13th Chief Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Court on how to free Malik of the legal hassles. This court deals with all CCS cases and thus has the authority to close the Ayesha-Shoaib matter.

Sources say that Sreevani has told the police that while they can theoretically close a case saying “action dropped for lack of evidence’’, but in this case they can’t do so. This because they have collected all the evidence and presented it to the court.

What could well add to Malik’s woes, the public prosecutor has told the police that Section 498 (A) of the IPC can be compromised upon only if the two parties (Maha and Malik in this case) decide to live together. Since that is not possible in this case, it will take a minimum of three months for this section to be dropped against him.

Incidentally this section, and also Section 420 (that has also been registered against Shoaib) can be dropped only with the court’s permission. This is not possible just by virtue of a letter that Maha Siddiqui wrote to the police commissioner on Wednesday. In her application, Maha alias Ayesha said that all the “disputes and the matter’’ had been settled amicably. The court may also direct the two parties to the Lok Adalat which can hear the matter and then notify the court to close the case, which again may take months.

There is another way by which Shoaib can get out of the tangle. By this, the police files a charge sheet in the case and the court can choose to examine only the complainant Maha Siddiqui, who has remained behind the scene so far. Once she says in court that she withdraws the charges, the prosecution would term her as hostile witness in the case and close the matter.

Whether such cases can be manipulated and time period shortened given the highprofile nature of the people involved, legal experts said that a court like this with no ‘celebrity experience’ may take time to warm up to short cuts, if any.

But analysts said that police, if they want, can figure a way out stating that they have not got any ‘concrete evidence’.

Wedding as scheduled

The noise surrounding Shoaib’s high-voltage divorce may have finally died, but the media vigil outside the Mirzas’ Jubilee Hills house continues. While little has come out by way of information from the tight-lipped Mirzas, Sania’s father Imran answered in the affirmative, when asked about his daughter’s wedding plans. Settling all speculation, he confirmed that Sania will wed Shoaib in Hyderabad on April 15th. Imran told TOI, “Sania and Shoaib’s wedding will take place as scheduled. The reception will be held at the Taj Krishna on April 15th.” Sources close to the family added that the nikah, which will be a small, private ceremony, will take place a little earlier on the same day, and will be attended only by close family.