Nikita Saini – a Hindu woman hailing from Jalandhar, Punjab was a divorcee and widow until recently. Then, she got in touch with a Muslim family from Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir. The family from J&K convinced Saini to get married – because of course, according to them, being a divorcee and widow is not socially acceptable in the 21st century. For reasons best known to the woman – she agreed to get hitched with Arfin Shah. The new fiancé was not entirely unknown to Nikita Saini. By her own admission, the two knew each other since when they were children, and had regular conversations on WhatsApp and social media.
It was only after the nikaah that Saini realised all was not well and rosy. After her nikaah into the Muslim family, the Hindu woman was asked to marry her father-in-law and establish physical relations with him. Arfin Shah’s mother – who is a last-stage cancer patient asked her new Hindu daughter-in-law to have sexual intercourse with Arfin Shah’s father since she had not been able to ‘satisfy’ the man since 2007 owing to her illness. Incidentally, Shah’s mother had pressured Saini into marrying her already married son saying they will take good care of her after marriage.
As Saini agreed to marry Shah, she was taken to Uttar Pradesh to get married where her name was changed to Nafeeza from Nikita. A shocked Saini asked the need for her name to be changed into a Muslim one, after which she was told that the same was just a formality. Nikita Saini has also shot off a letter to J&K Lt. Gov Manoj Sinha seeking justice.
Nikita Saini and her husband – Arfin Shah shifted to a rented house, and Shah pretended that he supported his wife’s choice to refuse the outrageous demand made by the family. Soon after, however, Arfin Shah began to nudge her, asking Nikita to do what the family was asking for – while promising her that the family matter will not be known to anyone.
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A Jammu woman, Nikita Saini, has given a complaint to police that just after her nikah with one Arfin Shah, his family began to pressure her to do nikah with her father-in-law as her mother-in-law is unable to make sexual relations due to her illness
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— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) June 30, 2021
When the woman opposed, the entire Shah family began promising her property and money in exchange for her establishing physical relations with her father-in-law. Nikita Saini refused yet again, and this time, the Shah brothers made plans to sell her by deciding who will keep her by putting to stake a predecided amount. Saini alleged that the family wanted to push her into prostitution.
Nikita Saini is reportedly receiving no help from the police. The police are focused on resolving the issue amicably, and towards that end, it one day took Nikita Saini back to the family. Her husband Arfin Shah, however, had gone holidaying with his first wife. Shah’s family, who said that their son was on the run, threatened Saini with dire consequences if anything happened to Afrin and said she would be held responsible. After having exhausted all her options, Nikita Saini decided to share her experience with the media.
The incident comes barely a few days after two Sikh girls in Kashmir were reportedly forced into Islam by their husbands and their families. The incidents had drawn widespread outrage, and the Sikh community protested the love jihad cases, resulting in one of the girls being rescued.