Late Wajid Khan’s wife Kamalrukh Khan alleges her husband’s family forced her to convert to Islam; Says 'Anti-Conversion Law Should Be Nationalised'

Mumbai, November 20: Amid going the Controversies over love jihad, late music director Wajid Khan's wife Kamalrukh Khan opened up about her inter-faith marriage alleges that how Wajid's family harras her for not converting to Islam.

Kamalrukh Khan has taken to social media to share her first-hand account of life in an inter-faith marriage. In a lengthy post on Instagram captioned “Live and let live should be the only religion we all practice”, Kamalrukh revealed how her resistance to convert to Islam drastically widened the divide between her and her late husband.

 

Kamalrukh began her note by writing, "I am Parsi and he was Muslim. We were what you would call 'college sweethearts.' Eventually, when we did get married, we married for love under the Special Marriages Act (an act that upholds the right to practice one's religion post-marriage). And this is why this current debate surrounding the anti-conversion bill is so interesting for me. I want to share my ordeal and my experience in an inter-caste marriage - that in this day and age, a woman can face such prejudice, suffering, and discrimination in the name of religion is a complete shame...and an eye-opener."

 

 

 

She continued, "My simple Parsi upbringing was very democratic in its value system. Independence of thought was encouraged and healthy debates were the norm. Education on all levels was encouraged. However, post marriage, this same independence, education, and democratic value system was the biggest problem for my husband's family. An educated, thinking, independent woman with an opinion was just not acceptable. And resisting the pressures of conversion was sacrilege. I have always respected, participated, and celebrated all faiths."

 

Kamalrukh further discloses how her resistance to convert to Islam drastically widened the divide between me and my husband, making it toxic enough to destroy our relationship as husband and wife, and his ability to be a present father to our kids.

 

"But my resistance to convert to Islam drastically widened the divide between me and my husband, making it toxic enough to destroy our relationship as husband and wife, and his ability to be a present father to our kids. My dignity and self-respect did not permit me to bend backward for him and his family, by converting to Islam," wrote Kamalrukh.

 

She revealed how her fight against this toxic belief led to her divorce from the music composer. She shared, “I was devastated, felt betrayed, and was emotionally drained, but my children and I held on.”

 

Kamalrukh furthered that her struggle and trauma continues even after the demise of her husband. “Today post his untimely death, the harassment from his family continues. I stand fighting for the rights and inheritance of my children which have been usurped by them. All this because of their hatred against me for not converting to Islam. Such deep-rooted hatred that even the death of a loved one could not move.”

 

Kamalrukh opined that the “anti-conversion law which is introduced by UP govt should be nationalized in order to reduce the struggle for women like her who are fighting the toxicity of religion in inter-caste marriages.”

 

She summed up her lengthy post by writing: “Religion should be a cause for celebration of differences not separation of families. All religions are the path to the divine. Live and let live should be the only religion we all practice”.

Wajid Khan, a Bollywood music composer from the successful duo Sajid-Wajid, had passed away in Mumbai this year in July. He had kidney issues and had contracted coronavirus infection.