Jameela Nishat: Championing women’s rights in Hyderabad’s old city

Hyderabad Heroes: It is not common to see women activists among the Muslim community, largely due to societal norms. Despite these barriers, a few courageous women have always been at the forefront of advocating for social justice, education and gender equality within the minority community. One of them is Jameela Nishat who has been fighting for women’s rights in Hyderabad’s old city quarters.

Long before taking up activism, Jameela was a teacher at a school where she would teach the special children. However, she was deeply troubled by the happenings around her in the society — where domestic violence and discrimination against women were widely accepted as normal.

Determined to make a change, she began supporting victims of domestic violence in the old city. The transition was not smooth at all as she faced hostility and social boycott from the community. However, she did not give up and remained focused on her goal.

In 2002, Jameela set up the Shaheen Women’s Resource and Welfare Association (Shaheen Collective) in the Sultan Shahi area, a few hundred meters from the historic monument Charminar. This center became a go-to point for the women in distress and victims of domestic abuse.

At one point, the Old City had become a favourite destination for Arab men to marry minor and young girls. Over time, this evolved into a ‘child bride’ racket where impoverished and, in some cases, opportunistic parents, often fathers were lured into ‘selling’ their minor daughters to wealthy old foreigners for a few lakhs of rupees.

The ‘agents’ scouted poor families with young girls and lured them with promises like the marriage of their daughters to Arab men and other rich foreign nationals would end their poverty. These ‘agents’ bribed the qazis (Muslim clerics who are authorised to officiate marriages) who would perform the ‘nikah’ and the agents would send the ‘new bride’ with forged documents out of the country.

Jameela and her team busted several fake marriage attempts by sheikhs with underage girls in the winding lanes of the old city. She also helped women who wanted to leave abusive marriages who had tolerated domestic violence for 25 years. She worked with the office of the Chief Qazi and enabled the victims to seek khula (a form of divorce initiated by the wife) to quit the abusive marital relationship.