Will this Dutch woman get back daughter from the kidnapper Indian father?

It was a dream wedding for Nadia Rashid, a Dutch woman, who tied the knot with the man she loved in 2011. But what she expected to be a loving, life-long relationship, turned sour the very next day.

After the wedding, Rashid noticed a change in her husband, an Indian businessman called Shezad Hemani, who turned violent and abusive. Despite the circumstances, she gave her marriage a chance and continued living with him. However, after she gave birth to their daughter, Insiya, he left her alone to take care of her. He even threatened to kidnap the girl and take her to India. Her heart-wrenching story has now garnered immense support after it was shared publicly by Facebook pages, Humans of Amsterdam and Humans of India. It has gone viral as #BringInsiyaBack.

Nadia Rashid's ordeal 

''I met him while I was volunteering at the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Amsterdam. He seemed friendly and through the organization he got my phone number. He texted me and every now and then we kept in touch. I don’t think you can call it a friendship but we were acquaintances. He was a businessman from India and he traveled a lot. In 2010 he was in Amsterdam and he came by my house. To my surprise he asked me to marry him. I barely knew him so I kindly refused. I don’t think he understood my no and so he kept sending me messages and kept traveling to Amsterdam to come and meet me. He made me feel special and he kept putting me on a pedestal. He made me feel special and he was very nice to me. At some point I was in love and he took good care of me. He loved me and it was picture perfect. I started to fall in love with him and when he proposed again I said yes. We got married in 2011 and that’s when everything changed..," she says in her account.

"Our wedding was big and many people were invited. I noticed a change in his behavior. He acted differently but I couldn’t really pinpoint what it was. After the party he left and he disappeared for our wedding night. He slowly changed from a loving man into a dominant husband," she adds.

He used to abuse her but would apologise the very next day, promising that he would change his ways. "I kept giving him chances, but a man who beats you once will beat you again." Despite being insulted, she continued with the marriage and gave birth to their daughter three years later.

All for a daughter

However, after Insiya was born, she was left alone. There came a day when he even stopped taking her calls, and wrote a letter to Rashid's brother saying "that I was going to pay for this and that he was going to shame my name and would tell everyone what a terrible woman I was."

"From that day he made our lives impossible. I filed for divorce but I always made sure he still got to see our daughter. Even after what he had done I still wanted Insiya to be able to have a relationship with her father. One day he came over and while she was sitting on his lap he said that he would send his friends over to have me killed. I walked up to him and took Insiya and ran to the police station to file a complaint against him. The threats kept coming from his side. He said that he would kidnap our daughter and that he would take her to India. He kept messaging me and my family. The messages were so detailed about my whereabouts that I got the feeling I was being watched," the story continues.

But what followed, has landed Nadia in a long battle to get back Insiya, who she says, was taken away by a few men who pretended to be government officials from her mother's house on September 29. "While all of this happened I was on the high way. I made a U turn and I pressed my AWARE button but I got stuck in traffic and when I got home Insiya was already gone. Ever since that day my life has been a complete nightmare. In life sometimes you have a bad day but then you go to sleep and there is a new day waiting for you. For me this bad nightmare isn’t ending. For two weeks after the violent kidnap, I had no idea where Insiya was. Later we found out that he had traveled to Germany with her. From there he went to India. As far as I know she in Mumbai with her father who she barely knows. He has said that if I will go to India he will have me arrested. He is a wealthy and powerful man and he easily buys people off. He has hired one of the best lawyer of The Netherlands to defend him. I haven’t talked to my daughter since she has been kidnapped. Despite my countless efforts, he will not let me talk to my 2-year-old daughter."

Criminally yours

Crime against women have more than doubled in the last decade. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 3,27,394 cases were registered under the crimes against women in the country last year. A total of 84,222 cases were registered under assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty. This category includes offences like sexual harrassment, assault or use of criminal force to women with intent to disrobe, voyeurism and stalking.

Indian women have often fallen prey to the patriachal set up and abuse - physical and mental - by their husbands. Even though such cases being common, many of them go unreported as women fear the consequences. The country talks of treading the path of development, but most women are still bound by the shackles of abuse and remain oppressed. Rashid, despite having a life in the Netherlands, is nevertheless a victim of an abusive relationship with an Indian man, which is why her story has found resonance with many people in this country.

Will Sushma Swaraj help Nadia?

She has now taken her fight to the authorities, and along with the ministry of foreign affairs and the Dutch government she is trying her "utmost best" to get Insiya back. "Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch government we are trying our utmost best to get Insiya back. Every day from morning until night I am working on this. I will not stop until I can hold my daughter again..''

However, the aggrieved mother is yet to hear from the higher authorities. Despite known for being proactive on the micro blogging site, the external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, has not yet responded to her pleas. How many more doors will she need to knock before justice comes knocking on hers? 

Also read: I outrage, I'm tired of being told to shut up on the internet