For 14 years, Shabana* and her husband Zubair*, a renowned banker, had been living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia like any other couple. However, things took a turn for the worse last year when Zubair turned against Shabana due to family discord, and allegedly began subjecting her and their children to domestic abuse. Unable to leave the country and come back to her hometown, Hyderabad, Shabana has been living in hiding in Jeddah with her six children for about three weeks now.
Through Amjed Ullah Khan, spokesperson for Majlis Bachao Tehreek who regularly takes up cases of migrants stuck in the Gulf countries and facing exploitation, Shabana* reached out to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for help as well. “He has refused to give an exit unless I give him a divorce in writing. I am going through a lot of physical and verbal abuse daily from my husband and his brothers in sisters who live in Bhopal, India. Please rescue me and my children before we end up dead as my husband has threatened to kill me and chop me to pieces,” Shabana wrote in a letter to Sushma.
And while she has involved the local police there and the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, there has been little improvement in her situation; especially because the children’s passports are still in Zubair’s custody, who has not been responding to the Consulate’s summons.
When things went downhill
Shabana tells TNM her ordeal, which has left her and her children struggling to get even daily sustenance.
She married Zubair in 2004 and came to live with him in Jeddah. “You must understand that my husband is not an ordinary NRI – he is a renowned investment banker. He holds a high profile job and is very well to do. He even opened a school in Bhopal with his own money. That’s what makes our position so difficult. He is a powerful man,” she tells TNM.
Things ran into troubled waters last year when Zubair's brother, Sameer*, and his wife came to live with them. Due to some discord, Sameer's wife left them and went to her mother’s house in April 2018. Sameer allegedly told Zubair that Shabana had encouraged Sameer's wife to leave, turning Zubair against his wife.
The domestic abuse started after this. In her letter to Sushma, Shabana recounts that in July 2018, Zubair allegedly told their sons to remain inside the room while he killed her and chopped her to pieces. Her terrified sons called them, and a complaint was registered. That was the first time that the local police were called. “Since Zubair has a high-level contact in the police, he got the case closed through recommendation,” Shabana shares.
Police were called two more times after this – once when Zubair allegedly started kicking one of their sons for not memorising the Quran, and then attacked Shabana for stopping him; and the second time when he tried violently kicking down a door of the room where Shabana had locked herself for safety.
Zubair also stopped giving them money for sustenance, and allegedly divided their house into two by installing a prison grade metal gate in the house and putting surveillance cameras inside and outside the house. Shabana alleges that he would enter their side of the house whenever he wanted, forcing her to remain locked in one room for hours, without access to even a toilet.
On May 5, Shabana escaped with her four sons and two daughters aged 13, 12, 10, 7, 6, and 5 while Zubair was at work. They have been living in hiding since. “He is a millionaire islamist and banker. And he told his own wife and children to beg, borrow, steal to survive, refusing any help. Can you imagine?” Shabana rues.
On May 19, Shabana once again attempted to speak to Zubair to sort out the issues amicably. However, he allegedly physically assaulted her, injuring her and also recorded inappropriate videos of her which he shared with Sameer.
Unable to come back home
Shabana has been unable to leave Jeddah to return home to Hyderabad because her children’s passports are still with Zubair.
“He misbehaved similarly with his previous wife. I did not learn about this until later. He has warrants against him in India from his ex-wife’s case that he lost. He does not want to let me go to India because he thinks I will also put a case against him,” Shabana says.
“I just want to come back home to Hyderabad. I have a brother and sister there who are in touch with me and are trying to help me out in whatever way they can. I want to make sure my kids and I are safe,” she adds.
TNM has a copy of the receipt of Shabana's complaint from the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, which confirms that allegations of domestic violence have been made against Zubair multiple times.
*Names changed