In a shocking revelation, late music composer Wajid Khan’s wife Kamalrukh while sharing her ordeal and personal experience in an intercaste marriage has come out in support of the current debate surrounding anti-conversion bill saying “her Muslim in laws used scare tactics to make her convert her religion”. While recalling her sufferings and harassment in an inter-caste “love” marriage, Kamalrukh has penned that in this day and age, “a woman can face such prejudice, suffering and discrimination in the name of religion is a complete shame…an eye-opener”.

 

 

In a lengthy post on her social media account, Kamalrukh quite bravely revealed that although “she married for love under the Special Marriages Act (an act that upholds the right to practice one's own religion post marriage),” but after her marriage to Wajid, “an educated, thinking, independent woman with an opinion was just not acceptable. And resisting the pressures of conversion was sacrilege”.

 

 

Recalling her marital life horror, Kamalrukh shared “I have always respected, participated and celebrated all faiths. 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 backwards for him and his family, by converting to Islam.”

 

Revealing shocking details about her married life, Kamalrukh expressed that even though she fought this “obnoxious” thinking, she was being outcast from Wajid Khan’s family. Scare tactics to make her convert her religion were used that included taking her to court seeking divorce. “I was devastated, felt betrayed and was emotionally drained, but my children and I held on”, she shared.

 

Kamalrukh has shared how the harassment from his late husband Wajid Khan’s family still continues out of their hatred against her for not converting to Islam, “My children and I miss him dearly and we wish he had dedicated more time to us as a family, devoid of religious prejudices, the way he did while creating his melodies. We never got to be a family due to his and his family's religious fanaticism. 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 death of a loved one could not move.”