Udupi Qazi studies the problem of dowry in the district

Udupi Qazi studies the problem of dowry in the district

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, June 17: Udupi Qazi P. M. Ibrahim Musliyar Bekal is following in the footsteps of the Mangalore Qazi Thwaka Ahmed Musliyar and is studying the problem of dowry in Udupi by visiting houses of the members of the Muslim community. Accompanied by the members of the Hidaya Foundation and the Talent Research Foundation, the Mangalore Qazi visited about 10 families in the district to listen to their tales of dowry woes. 

 

 

 

 

The visitors shed tears when they saw the plight of families who were forced to sell their homes to pay dowries and are now living in ordinary homes. 

The Qazi first visited the house of Muhammed of Kodi at Hejamadi near Uchila, the father of 4 sons and 3 daughters. The daughters are unmarried and one of the sons is working as a labourer. Muhammed is unable to work owing to illness. Muhammed said that prospective grooms demand a dowry of Rs 2 lakh and 30 – 40 pavans of gold, which the family cannot afford because they get only a small amount by begging in the masjids of the city. 

Yet another Muslim family is currently living in a rented house belonging to the local jamath committee. The family owes the committee Rs 30,000 because it has no income. M. H. Mohammed, the lone bread winner has 2 daughters, one of whom is yet to be married.  

The Qazi also met 80-year-old Isamma, who is living on S. S. Road in Uchila with her daughter, son-in-law, and their two children in a temporary house offered by their neighbors. Her son Abdul Khader is the lone bread winner. He washes utensils at weddings and other functions. But he has educated his daughter up to II PUC. 

The team also visited the home of an invalid, whose 19-year-old son Rafeeq is suffering from a psychological disorder. Two of his 3 daughters are already married, but the youngest daughter, aged 30, is not yet married. The fact that one of his sons-in-law is not paying attention to his family has added to his woes. 

The team also met a family of 2 women and 2 children who earn a living rolling beedies. The husband of one of these women had died of cancer a few years ago.         

Abdul Hameed, another person visited by the team, has decided to sell his house to get his daughter married. He married off his first daughter by paying a dowry of Rs 1 lakh and 8 pavans of gold. He still has to give 5 pavans of gold. 

The Udupi Qazi described the system of dowry as a killer of humanity, forcing people to sell their own houses.