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Saw daughter 8 months after her birth: Mumbai man released from Qatar jail in narcotics case
Sharique Qureshi and wife Oniba, were arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after authorities recovered over 4kg of hashish in their bag
“Because of a fake narcotics case, my wife and I had to spend 22-months in jail and I could see my newborn daughter eight months after her birth,” said Bhendi Bazaar resident Sharique Qureshi who returned to India along with his wife Oniba and daughter from Qatar on Wednesday night.
The couple was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a drug case in Qatar in 2019. However, the highest court in Qatar recently cleared the couple of all the charges after the family fought a hard battle.
Qureshi and Oniba, who visited Qatar for their honeymoon, were arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after authorities recovered over 4kg of hashish in their bag.
The couple’s family later discovered that their relative Tabassum Qureshi had allegedly placed the narcotics in Qureshi and Oniba’s bag. She had sponsored the trip for them and allegedly wanted to use the couple for transporting the drugs.
“We had no plans of a second honeymoon. My father’s sister told us that she had planned a honeymoon for us in Doha as a gift and also wished to send some tobacco parcels to her associates in Qatar. We had refused to go. But we trusted her and landed in trouble,” Qureshi said.
“After being detained, we were first lodged in separate rooms for seven days and life was hell. We were freezing because of the ACs and the blankets had not been washed for days. There were no washrooms and we had to call the guards to go to the toilet. The guards would take 20 minutes to come. In the jail, the co-inmates used to abuse me for using my wife for the narcotics trade. They would see me as bad human being. Those were the most traumatised days of our lives,” said Qureshi.
After spending five months in jail, a trial court sentenced the two to 10 years imprisonment. The family challenged the verdict in the high court, which upheld the lower court’s verdict.
“We had lost all hopes as we were completely blank about the case and the judicial system of the country,” Qureshi said.
“We would cry all day. We would think why would our aunt do this to us. We had never done any wrong to anyone. Just because we trusted a relative, we had to suffer so much,” said Oniba breaking down.
Despite being pregnant, Oniba could meet Qureshi only three times. She delivered a girl last year on February 26.
“After repeatedly writing letters for eight months, seeking permission to meet my newborn, the authorities allowed me and I could meet my daughter, Aayat, only after eight months of her birth,” Sharique said.
Meanwhile, the couple’s family followed up the matter with the Indian authorities and also approached the Qatari Apex court. On March 29, the Court of Cassation, the highest Court in Qatar, ordered to release the couple.
“I was in Qatar for 15 months, fighting the legal battle for my children. It wasn’t easy for us as the legal system there is different. If you speak against the court’s verdict, they consider it as disrespect to their judicial system and prosecute you,” said Qureshi’s father Sharif Ahmed.
Oniba’s mother Parveen Kausar said, “We were worried for our kids as there was health emergency across the globe due to Covid-19. And because of this the legal procedure to get out kids back got delayed by almost a year unnecessarily. But finally they could return home and that too, in the holy month of Ramadan. I am thankful to our police, NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.”
Qureshi was employed with a Japanese company, but after the arrest, he lost his job.
“I have to start my life afresh and I don’t know whether I will get a job or not during the pandemic,” he said.
After completing all the formalities and paperwork they reached home at Bhendi Bazaar by 5am on Thursday.
