Pregnant woman left in lurch as hubby is jailed

With no means to fend for herself, expectant mother pleads for help after husband lands in police custody over a bounced cheque

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SHARJAH The last time Maliha (name changed on request) saw her husband at home was the evening of June 9, the first Thursday of Ramadan. She had, as usual, tucked some pakodas (vegetable fritters) and fruit chaat in a lunch box for her partner’s iftar before bidding him goodbye on his way to work. Little did she know that within hours her husband would land in police custody over a bounced cheque case and that she would be left in the lurch – forced to fend for herself and her first child, due anytime, with barely any means to survive.

“It’s been a nerve wracking wait and I still have no idea if he will he be back in time for delivery. With no money in hand, I am clueless as to who to approach if I were to go into a sudden labour,” said Maliha, who completes her full term around July 12. The 29-year-old from Pakistan shares an apartment in Sharjah’s Al Qasimia with other families. She moved to the UAE from her hometown of Lahore with her husband just after marriage three years ago.

10 minutes to eternity

“We would always have our dinner together and it didn’t matter how late he would return home. Even that night I waited until 11pm before I called to check on him and he said he would be home in 10 minutes.

“But those 10 minutes became an eternity. He never came back and all I heard from him was that he was in the police station, trying to sort out some issues. Later his friends told me that he had been jailed because of a Dh53,000 cheque he signed that bounced,” Maliha said as XPRESS met her in her room, furnished with two sofas, a cupboard, a water dispenser and a mattress that serves as the couple’s bed besides which lay a miniature piano she said she found discarded in the corridor.

“My husband had big plans for the new-born and wanted to buy everything – from toys to clothes to a baby cot. But now I guess with no money, I will have to make do with this piano I found lying months ago in the hallway,” she said, fighting back her tears.

Maliha said she hopes someone would take mercy on her and help her deliver her first child if she goes into sudden labour. “I feel helpless. I know it will be nothing short of a miracle if his case is solved and he returns home in time for the baby’s arrival,” said Maliha.

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