The inter faith marriage is still a stigma in Indian society. We have many cases how parents or parents-in-laws harassing the newly interfaith married couples. TwoCircles.net a popular website brings out a news report under the headline,” “Apex court comes to rescue of interfaith couple” on 21 May 2009.
“The Supreme Court Thursday ordered the family members of a Jammu and Kashmir-based Hindu girl married to a Muslim boy to stop troubling the couple as the girl is above 18 years and entitled to choose her life partner. A vacation bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Deepak Verma issued the order on a lawsuit by the couple claiming that the girl’s family was harassing them in collusion with some local Shiv Sena leaders. The bench also asked the state police to provide security to the couple. The court personally asked the girl, Chanchili alias Mehvesh Anjum, and her husband Fiaz Ahmed Ahanger, about her age.
“If the parents do not approve the inter-caste or inter-community marriage, the maximum they can do is sever the social relationship with the girl. But they (family) cannot give her a thrashing, resort to violence or harass her,” the bench observed.”
The most horrific and agonizing issue in Fiaz and Chanchili alias Anjum is that a sabotage is said to be foisted against girl that she was by now legally wedded to a guy known as Dharshan Singh. A case has been registered “at Jammu’s Channi Himmat Police Station, claiming that Chanchili was his legally wedded wife and had been abducted by Fiaz” according to the available source. These miserable couple are running pillar to post – court after court to get unleashed from the turmoil but they are under dismay with futile outcome.
Let us see a similar case, (Source: CNN-IBN on Friday Oct 05, 2007) the tragic love tale of Rizwan-ur-Rahman, a Muslim teacher and Priyanka Todi of Kolkata:
“The case of Rizwan-ur-Rahman, a Muslim teacher allegedly killed by his Hindu in-laws for marrying their girl, has sparked a communal row in Kolkata. Priyanka Todi, the widow of Rehman was a young student from an affluent business family of the city. A letter written by Rizwan days before his death reveals that the police was harassing him for marrying Priyanka.”
“Rizwan’s family alleges that the cops and the girl’s family plotted his killing. Though a CID enquiry was ordered in the case, the report fails to name anyone for the alleged murder”.
Why so much howling is for an inter-faith marriage? My own analysis shows that the greater the orthodoxy, inculcated in a family, the acuity of faith is strong. In other words, whether family is genuinely fear God or not but the prestige and prejudice is more conceivable than to be flexible to interfaith marrying daughter. For most, it is not endurable if one of its daughters is being subjected to conjugal bliss especially with a Muslim boy. In such event, the orthodoxy and religious faction remain vehemently tough on the side daughter’s parents, and clandestine and undercover marriages do happen with duress and distress.
The two cases cited above is the best example of such interfaith marriages. The interfaith marriage does speak about Hindu-Muslim marriage alone. The disease is wide spread. A Shia is out of sight to a Sunni Muslim, Bhatkali, Bhora, Kutch Muslim so on and so forth all are divided and vied each other.
On a microscopic analysis, Inter-faith marriage is becoming out of taboo only in the elite society. Listed below is an account of interfaith marriages (Wiki Bin) but they are all from renowned celebrities. Perhaps more common interfaith marriages may be existing but they are not in the public eye.
Here is the list:
Urdu author Krishan Chander married Salma Siddiqui
Actor Mohammad Iqbal Khan married Sneha Chhabra.
Actor Shahrukh Khan married Gauri Chibber.
Actor Hritik Roshan married Suzanne Khan.
Actor Atul Agnihotri married Alvira Khan, actor Salman Khan’s Sister.
Actor Feroz Khan’s daughter Laila Khan Rajpal married Rohit Rajpal
Actor Sanjay Khan’s daughter Simone Khan Arora married Ajay Arora.
Criminal Lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani married Haseena Jethmalani.
Crickter Ajit Agarkar married Fathima Agarkar.
Actor Sunil Dutt married Actress Nargis Dutt.
MP Sachin Pilot, Son of the Late Rajesh Pilot married Sara
Abdullah, Daughter of Former Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Sister of Omar Abdullah.
Arun Ahuja married the former Nazeem, now known as Nirmala Devi, parents of Govinda.
Bollywood Movie Director Mahesh Bhatt had a Hindu father and Muslim Shite mother , but they were never married and never lived together.
Director/Choreographer Farah Khan married Director Shirish Kunder
Actress Nagma’s (Nandita Morarji) father Sri Arvind Pratapsinh Morarji married muslim woman Seema.
Gangster turned Politician Arun Gawli from Mumbai married a Muslim woman named Ayesha who later took up name as Asha.
Actor Manoj Bajpai married Muslim woman Shabana Raza who is also called as Neha.
Actor Pankaj Kapoor (Father of actor Shahid Kapoor) married a Muslim woman Neelima Azeem.
Actor Jyothika’s (Nagma’s Sister) father Chander Sadhana married a Muslim woman Seema.
I do remember a Hindi old song:
“Na Hindu banega ya Musalman banega”
“Insan ki aulad hey Insan banega”
(He is born neither a Hindu nor a Muslim; He is born a human being; he will live a human being.)
