New Delhi

Ramazan has brought blessings to the Qureshi family of Mumbai whose son and daughter-in-law have returned home after spending 21 months in an Oman jail for drug peddling.

The Doha Court took cognizance of the fresh evidence presented by the government of India in the case and exonerated Oniba and Sharique Qureshi of charges for which the couple had received a ten-year jail term.

The hopeless situation of the innocent couple, who were framed by their aunt in India, took a new turn when the Indian government authorities submitted papers about the arrest of the real culprit Tabbasum Qureshi in the case. Tabbasum Qureshi is the sister of Sharique’s father.

The encrypted records of the conversation between Tabassum and the couple proved that she had manipulated them and that they were innocent.

Oniba and Sharique Qureshi landed at Mumbai airport to a tearful reunion with their families. Their one year daughter born in the jail was the cynosure of all.

The couple was manipulated by Sharique’s aunt Tabbasum Qureshi, who had almost forced them to take a trip to Doha on June 6, 2019, as a gift of “second honeymoon’ from her. She also tricked them into using her suitcase that had an improvised pouch filled with four kilos of hashish.

Oniba’s mother Kausar Parveen told the media that the two families have received the bounties of Ramazan. She hugged her daughter and both wept bitterly at the airport as onlookers wiped tears off their faces.

Kausar Parveen had met the officers in the Prime Minister’s office to plead for getting her daughter and son-in-law released from Qatar jail. She told Awaz-the voice earlier that the on the instructions of PMO, police, Narcotics Control Bureau and other agencies worked on the evidence provided by their families and arrested Tabassum Qureshi, the kingpin of the drug smuggling ring.

 Sharique’s father, who lives in Bhindi Bazar, was equally distraught to know that his son and the pregnant daughter in law have been arrested on arrival at Hamad International Airport and his sister was behind their ordeal. He spent 19 months in Qatar trying to plead their case. His review petition to the High Court also didn’t end with changing their 10-year sentence.

However, he managed to get the mobile of his son from the jail. That had a record of all the conversation between Sharique and Tabassum that proved to be a piece of conclusive evidence that she had forced the two into going to Doha and carrying her ‘spacious’ suitcase. This evidence proved crucial in changing the verdict of the trial and High court in Doha.

Oniba told local media that she had such traumatic experiences of living in jail through her pregnancy and delivering the child. “I was always worried about my child.” She said she had lost all hopes of getting freedom after the High Court rejected the evidence and maintained their 10-year sentence.

Wiser after their trauma, Sharique and Oniba say the Indian airports should have better scanners as the contraband in their luggage remained undetected at the Bengaluru airport while in Oman it was quickly detected. They have also asked the people to be alert and never trust anyone who hands over a packet for delivering it in the other country. “Never trust even if he is our own relative,” Oniba said.