Helped by Jaya govt, Kuwaiti woman plays hide as embassy officials seek

Dhalal, who eloped with boyfriend Khader Basha to India a fortnight ago, was granted asylum by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on humanitarian grounds. The Union Home Ministry is also considering her plea for Indian citizenship.

The Kuwaiti government is persisting its case: after stating in New Delhi that Dhalal was mentally unstable, the Kuwaiti Embassy dispatched Nomeer Al Kharuni, a counsellor, to Chennai to talk to her. But Dhalal had left with Basha for his hometown Pullampet in Cuddapah district, Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday.

‘‘We mean no harm. We only want to find out why she came to India and whether she wants to return home. If so, we would lend her all necessary help,’’ Al Kharuni said. ‘‘The Embassy had informed the police and Dhalal’s lawyer about my visit here. But she has been packed off to Basha’s village.

Nobody is telling me where she is. I contacted the village and her relatives say she has not reached home,’’ Al Kharuni told The Indian Express.

Senior Tamil Nadu government officials denied having received any information from the Kuwait Embassy about his visit. ‘‘We released her on bail. She is free go anywhere. We cannot stop her. We received no information from the Kuwait Embassy,’’ shrugged a senior police officer.

Khaled Al Razni, Director (information) at the Kuwaiti Embassy in New Delhi was dismayed at the development.

‘‘We will approach the ministry of external affairs in a couple of days,’’ he said. He claimed that it was Dhalal’s relatives who had reported that she was mentally ill. Dhalal had not broken any Kuwaiti regulations, he added, and the country’s law did not prevent a woman from marrying an Indian.

‘‘There are lots of Indians married to Kuwaiti girls. There is no punishment like stoning or beheading for such people. We will ensure that she is not harmed. Only, we want to meet her first,’’ Al Razni said. ‘‘We wanted to ask her if we could do anything for her. If she wants to Indian citizenship, we have to inform her of our regulations in Kuwait which only allow for single citizenship.’’

Al Razni, nevertheless, threw a veiled hint that Basha would be in trouble if he visited Kuwait again. ‘‘He has stolen another girl’s passport and affixed Dhalal’s photo on it. Even if she had stolen the passport, it was he who had led her to India. He has certainly violated Kuwaiti laws,’’ he said.

Prison officials at Vellore and the doctors at the government hospital there say Dhalal did not show any sign of mental illness during her brief stay at the two places. ‘‘She responded to our calls. Though she did not understand everything we said due to the language barrier, we managed to communicate with her through signs. If she was mentally ill, it would not have been possible,’’ a doctor at the hospital said.

(With inputs from Kota Neelima)