Two-year-old Telugu baby caught in tussle between parents in UAE

It is said that her father has kept her with him, without allowing her mother to take her back home to Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, saying that he would let the child go only after the mother withdraws a dowry harassment case registered against him in India.

Jeddah: A two-year-old baby girl is caught in a fight over dowry between her parents and grandparents and is stuck in the United Arab Emirates. It is said that her father has kept her with him, without allowing her mother to take her back home to Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, saying that he would let the child go only after the mother withdraws a dowry harassment case registered against him in India.

An electrical engineer hailing from Srikakulam, working in a leading aluminum industry in Abu Dhabi, had married a woman from the same district in 2017. The wife joined her husband in UAE but after a couple of months, differences surfaced in their matrimonial life. The wife then returned home where she delivered a baby girl. It is said the husband was upset about the child being a girl and didn’t visit the newborn for a year, according to the wife. The husband and his parents then began demanding additional dowry which her family obliged. But the harassment continued, following which the wife lodged a police complaint in Srikakulam district against her husband and his parents.

Following intervention of community elders in Srikakulam, both parties settled their dispute and the mother and child returned to UAE. However, the husband, who harboured a grudge against his wife and in-laws, allegedly began physically assaulting her and the same was shown to her parents over video call, they alleged. The woman’s parents then reached the UAE to work out an amicable solution in the presence of AP NRT society coordinators and some other prominent Telugu community members of UAE.

“The father didn’t see his child for a year just because she is a girl child. How is he be going to take care of her while doing a job 114 KM away in Abu Dhabi?” the woman’s parents questioned. However, they fell sick and with funds running out, they had return home along with their daughter, with the child being allegedly held back by the husband.

AP state government arm for NRI affairs, APNRT and local MP K. Rammohan Naidu also have intervened in the case.