A chilling incident of Love Jihad involving an MBA graduate woman has come to light from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. The woman, who ran her own business, developed a relation with her hair dresser who introduced himself as Ajay (aka Ajju) whereas his real name is Ajmal Raees Khan. After Ajmal coerced her into a nikah (marriage as per Islamic law), the Hindu woman was drugged and gang-raped by her 2 brothers-in-law and their friend.
About one year back, the woman met Ajmal in a unisex salon located in a Vashi shopping mall where he used to work as a hair dresser. During her first visit, her introduced himself as Ajju and managed to get her mobile number under the pretext of filling out a form to keep her informed about salon-related offers. The woman started visiting the salon often and would spend thousands of rupees on hair treatment and styling.
Over time, their friendship turned into something more serious and all this while Ajmal kept up the facade of a fake Hindu identity. He even convinced the girl to give him lakhs of rupees for his business. On 15 May, Ajmal called her to Bandra Court for registered marriage, where she discovered his real Muslim identity. After that, Ajmal coerced her into marrying him in a nikah ceremony conducted by a maulvi, despite her protestations that she would not convert out of Hindu Dharma.
A few days after this ‘marriage’, Ajmal started demanding Rs. 15 lakhs from her. He started harassing her over minor issues. He banned her from stepping out of their marital home in Vashi, and did not allow her proper meals. During the muh-dikhai rasam (a ceremony where bride meets and gets to know the friends and family members of her husband), she was drugged with a spiked cold-drink and then gang-raped by her brothers-in-law Afsar & Shanu.
Dejected, the victim started living separately but she was still fearful of her husband. But her brothers-in-law visited her house to persuade her to return, and again raped her – this time accompanied by a friend, Maqsood Rafik Ahmed. Finally, the woman worked up the courage to lodge a complaint with Vashi police.
The 4 accused – Ajmal Raees Khan, Afsar Raees Khan, Shanu Itkhar Khan and Maqsood Rafik Ahmed were produced in court and remanded to judicial custody till 2 August.
The girl has alleged that police is taking her case lightly and has removed the Love Jihad facts from her statement. She has lodged a written complaint with Mumbai Police Commissioner & Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis regarding this.
Her lawyer, Adv. Siddh Vidya, told that no investigating officer was present in court when the accused were brought for their first hearing, due to which the court had no option but to send them to judicial custody. She said that they would opposed any bail plea filed by the accused and inform the court about police negligence.
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