Wrenched away from his first wife Gudiya, Taufiq has now been rejected by his bride-to-be apparently because of his insistence on the guardianship of 14-month-old Mateen fathered by him.
Akhtar of Madpa village in Bulanshahr district in western Uttar Pradesh Saturday night refused to allow his daughter Nargis to marry Taufiq as he had insisted on bringing back Mateen.
Akhtar said he would not tolerate the marriage of his daughter to Taufiq if it involved nursing another's child.
The sagai (engagement ceremony) was performed some time back as Taufiq had agreed to sever all relations with Mateen, Akhtar said.
Taufiq's father Ishtiyaq on the other hand has announced that he "will get Mateen back at all costs" irrespective of whether the Nargis-Taufiq marriage is solemnised or not.
He said he would move the court to get back his grandson as it involves blood ties.
The opinions of Muslim clerics from Darul Uloom of Deoband differ on the matter of Mateen.
Mufti Ahsan Saturday said, "Under the Islamic Shariat, custody ought to be with the person who is the legal husband of the woman who bears the child."
The marriage of Taufiq to Gudiya in the absence of her husband was "illegal" and even an illegitimate child would belong to her husband, he said.
Mufti Ajaz Urshad, however, said the child should to stay with his biological father.
Clerics of the Islamic seminary have so far not held any sitting to discuss the issue, Urshad said.
