In development to the bizarre incident of a wedding being called off in Maharashtra’s Nashik due to the ‘love jihad’ protest, the couple has tied a knot as per Hindu rituals on Thursday (July 22). According to close family sources, the parents of 28 year old woman were forced to call off her wedding with a Muslim man owing to pressure from their Hindu community members.
According to reports, Rasika Adgaonkar and Asif Khan were married at a hotel in Nashik as per Hindu rituals, followed by a Muslim nikah ceremony, after 10 days of the wedding being called off.
Earlier the wedding was scheduled for July 18, however could not be performed due to the protest after the wedding card had gone viral on social media. Bride’s father Prasad Adgaonkar who is jeweller, penned a letter to his community’s body stating that they decided not to go forward with the July 18 wedding ceremony due to social media protests.
“The community did not respond negatively to her marriage, but her family was put under a lot of pressure after the wedding invitation card went viral on social media,” revealed a community member.
Following media attention to the matter, the family claims that numerous social organisations and politicians, including Minister of State Bachchu Kadu, came out in support of the couple, and Rasika Adgaonkar and Asif Khan married according to both religious's traditions.
“Initially, there was a lot of negativity and hatred, but as the public found out the truth, we had an outpouring of support. We were overjoyed that people realised what was being claimed in those social media posts was incorrect, and that it was not a case of love jihad or forced conversion,” Adgaonkar added.
Rasika and Asif had registered their marriage in May. Asif was Rasika's private tutor a few years ago, according to a member of Rasika's community, and that is how they met. Rasika and Asif had known each other for eight years and had notified their families of their desire to marry.