"Since she travelled to Pakistan, her documents were scrutinised"
An Indian woman’s marriage to a Pakistani man proved to be a nightmare for her as it eventually led to her being arrested.
Thane resident Nagma Noor Maqsoodali illegally changed her birth name to Sanam Khan when she was 18.
It was a name she had “heard several times, even in movies, and really liked”.
After her online Nikkah with a Pakistani man in 2022, Nagma and her two daughters from her first marriage moved to Abbottabad earlier in 2024.
On July 17, Nagma returned to Thane to look after her ill mother.
Since moving to Pakistan, her documents were scrutinised and the illegal name change was soon discovered.
She was subsequently called to the police station for questioning.
For three days, the Indian woman was asked how she obtained her official documents in Sanam Khan’s name even though her name was still officially Nagma Noor Maqsoodali.
In the media, it was speculated that she was a “Pakistani spy”.
A police case was registered against her for procuring an Aadhaar Card using “forged” documents and she was arrested on July 25.
She was released on bail in the first week of August. The shopkeeper who gave her the card was also charged and arrested.
Nagmar told police that the shopkeeper had charged her Rs. 20,000 (£180) for a birth certificate, ID card and Aadhaar card in her preferred name and changing her year of birth from 1997 to 2001.
An officer said: “When we asked the shopkeeper how he managed to get an Aadhaar Card in her (Nagma’s) new name when she did not have any supporting documents, including her original birth certificate, he said he simply got a signed letter from the local corporator as a supporting document.
“The correct procedure to change name is to give a gazette notification and a notice in newspapers.
“But Nagma started using her documents (made in 2015) without doing that, including applying for a passport.
“Since she travelled to Pakistan, her documents were scrutinised and that is how the illegality was discovered.”
On her first marriage, Nagma said: “My mother and I went to our village near Moradabad (in Uttar Pradesh) during my summer vacation in June 2012. I was in Class 8 then.
“What I thought was a summer vacation was, in fact, my wedding.
“My mother returned to Thane after my wedding, while I stayed with my in-laws in a small room.
“My husband, who was mostly unemployed, would beat me up. Though I wanted to return to Thane, I decided to stay back after I got pregnant.
“I was 16 when I gave birth to my first daughter in December 2013.”
By 2015, she convinced her mother to help her family start a new life in Thane.
She continued: “My husband, two daughters and I went to Thane. My mother gave my husband some money to start a shop, but he refused to work.
“Eventually, we separated and he returned to Moradabad.”
Police said her husband passed away in 2019.
In May 2021, Nagma was on Facebook when she met Babar Bashir Ahmed, a Pakistani resident of Pakistan.
They started talking and over the next few months, she told him about her marriage and two daughters.
They soon entered a relationship. Nagma explained:
“In 2022, my parents spoke to him over a video call and we decided to get married after that.”
“In 2023, I successfully applied for passports for my daughters and myself. Earlier this year, I applied for our visas. No objections were raised at any stage.”
Speaking about her return to India to care for her mother, the Indian woman said:
“Within days of my return, I was asked to come to the police station. I don’t understand why no objections were raised when I applied for the passports and visas?”
Nagma was released on bail but she cannot go back to Pakistan without the approval of the local court due to this case.
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