Social media campaign pressures Maldives to release Indian woman charged with son's murder
Social media campaign pressures Maldives to release Indian woman charged with son's murder

Social media campaign pressures Maldives to release Indian woman charged with son's murder

Haritha John| The News Minute| March 16, 2015| 2.12 pm IST

For 29-year-old Rubeena, it has been one arduous journey.

Far from her homeland in India, Rubeena had been languishing in a jail in Maldives for the past four and a half years on charges of murder of her nine-month-old son and attempted suicide.

Her suffering however, in jail, has finally ended as she was recently released from the prison. Rubeena reached Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on Monday.

A social media campaign spearheaded by Moidu Vanimel, a Kerala-based journalist, had been working towards Rubeena’s release for several months now.

Vanimel, along with the other campaigners, had been coordinating with authorities and activists in both countries to prove her innocence.

Rubeena

"It was difficult. But with the help of other journalists and some activists in India and in Malé, we got Rubeena released. We had given requests to the Prime Minister and to the External Affairs Minister. Sushma Swaraj was directly involved in the issue and she contacted the Malé government in connection to Rubeena’s release. Kerala Social welfare minister MK Muneer was also actively involved in the case and helped us”, Moidu Vanimel told The News Minute.

Moidu Vanimel 

Rubeena is second Indian citizen to be released recently

The news of Rubeena’s release comes two months after the release of Jayachandran Mokeri from a Malé jail.

Mokeri, who hails from Kozhikode, was a school teacher in Maldives. He had been falsely implicated in a child abuse case and had been illegally held in Dhoonidhoo prison, Malé, for 8 months.

It was following strong intervention, through the Save Jayachandran Mokeri Campaign which had been started by his friend Vanimel, that Mokeri was released. It was subsequently proved that Mokeri had been trapped by one of his colleagues.

Rubeena’s plight

Rubeena, who hails from Varkala in Kerala, was married to Hassan Jabir, a Malé citizen, on July 28, 2008.

She was a victim of "Mali Kalyanam", considered a social evil, that had once been in practice in Kerala. In this system, young girls from economically poor Muslim families were married off to men much older than them in Maldives in exchange for money.

"Mali Kalyanam" was a rampant problem plaguing Kerala in between 2005 and 2009. Later strong interventions from activists in the state helped combat the situation considerably. After 2010 no such marriages were being reported.

Rubeena’s mother Shafeeqa Beevi told The News Minute that Rubeena was married off to Hassan because he had given them some money and cleared off their debts.

“Initially we were not aware about these marriages and the danger it posed. It was only later that we came to know about this” she said.

Mokeri had met Rubeena twice at the detention centre during his imprisonment and found her in a pathetic situation. It was when Mokeri shared his experience about meeting Rubeena that her case came to light.

“She was in a terrible state of mind and was depressed and mentally shattered. She told me that she did not commit the murder and that she loved her son a lot. I don’t think that she committed the crime” Mokeri had earlier told TNM.

He also said that she has been suffering unbearable physical and mental torture in the jail. According to him, she was not even aware that her case could invite up to 25 years life-imprisonment in Malé.

“She told me that she had some issues with her husband Hassan Jabir and that he had many extramarital relationships and he trapped her to get a divorce”, Mokeri added.

Pictures courtesy of Moidu Vanimel

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