‘I'm a victim of love jihad, didn’t know much when I converted’: former Miss India alleges

MUMBAI: Sayali Surve, the winner of Miss India Earth 2019, has alleged that she was a victim of “love jihad.” Speaking to the media, she opened up about the difficulties she faced in her love marriage. Sayali, who was born in Pimpri-Chinchwad in Maharashtra, is currently living in Mumbai. In 2017, she converted to Islam to marry Aatif Tase. She had also changed her name to Ateja after the conversion.

According to Sayali, she met Aatif through a friend. Their friendship later turned into a relationship and eventually led to marriage. However, her family strongly opposed the relationship. Despite the objections, she decided to go ahead with the marriage. Sayali said that converting to Islam was a condition for the wedding.

She said she began to understand Aatif’s behaviour and surroundings only after starting to live with him after marriage.

“For years, I had to face abusive language and physical harassment. I tolerated everything, hoping the situation would improve. I did not want to break the family because of the children. But as the years passed, I became worried about the environment in which my children were growing up. What I experienced was love jihad. When I decided to convert, I did not know much about it. I changed my religion and got married, believing Aatif was a good person,” Sayali told the media.

She also said that after ending the marriage, she reconverted to Hinduism and changed her name to Aadya Surve. She added that she has filed a case against Aatif and claimed that she has evidence to support her allegations.