It was a high-voltage drama in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday when police tried to take into custody a couple who had converted to Hinduism.
However, activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal reached the police station and ensured that the couple were set free.
The couple – Rajan Puri and his wife Rashmi – later returned to the venue where they were being felicitated by the VHP.
At the police station, a large number of VHP and Bajrang Dal activists raised slogans against the state government, which made the police jittery. The officers then escorted the couple back to the VHP event.
Later, Lakhimpur Kheri sub-divisional magistrate Rakesh Patel reached the spot and requested the event organisers to allow him to finish official formalities. He recorded the couple’s statement and then left.
In his statement to the SDM, Rajan said: “I had adopted Islam in 2006. A written application was submitted before the district magistrate at that time. Now my wife, our children and I are adopting Hinduism without any fear or allurement.”
At the event, Rajan, a resident of Dhaurahra in the state, said that he had converted to Islam and had married a Muslim woman called Rosy a few years ago.
After converting to Islam, Rajan was renamed as Shahid Khan. However, he and his wife were impressed by the ‘ghar wapsi’ campaign of VHP and they decided to reconvert to Hinduism. His wife will now be known as Rashmi, he said.
Talking to mediapersons, Rashmi said that the couple has a son and a daughter, Ayush aged 5 and Kirti, aged 2.
