Aman Shah (left), Shabana (with green Hijab) and Arti (the one with blurred face), Image Organiser
We are living in the age of technology, from grocery to food to medicine to dating we have applications for all. In this ‘tech-savvy’ era, break-ups and patch-ups are quite a thing, and so is live-in. But the Shraddha Walker murder case shook the entire nation, and with the film ‘The Kerala Story’ the concern of parents has only intensified.
Today, at Organiser, we bring to you the story of a Marathi Hindu family from Madhya Pradesh who is struggling to protect their daughter, Arti, they say she is groomed and blinded in love with a Muslim man. The parents want to protect their daughter from meeting Shraddha Walker or the Kerala Story girl’s-like fate.
They say groomed because the journey of Arti began with befriending a Muslim woman, Shabana. Shabana developed a fascination towards Islam and Islamic customs for Arti.
Then she met a man named Aman, who posed as a Hindu but turned out to be a Muslim. He blackmailed her, forced her to sleep with his friends in exchange for money, thrashed her on the road, tried kidnapping her, extorted money, forced her to convert and whatnot?
Shockingly, after all this torture, Arti believes she should not have filed a complaint against the accused. She believes he deserves another chance.
On the other hand, her parents who have accepted her after all of this say, if the man is allowed to walk out of jail, he will do the same with someone else’s daughter.
Aman posed as a Hindu man
A First Information Report (number–0/023) was registered at the Kampoo police station of the Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh on May 10.
In this complaint, 26-year-old Arti stated, that she lives in the Chana Kothra area of the city with her parents. She works at Chirayu Hospital as Ground Duty Staff (GD Staff), earlier she used to work at Pariwar Hospital. In 2021, while working at Pariwar Hospital she met a man identified as Aman Shah, he introduced himself as Aman Valmiki. They became friends and soon lovers.
Six months back, Aman took her to a room located in Tanki Wale Hanumanji Anandi Ki Pahadiya Bahodapur area, where he made physical relationship with her. He did this on the pretext of marriage. He took her to the place multiple times and made physical relations with her.
One day Arti found his Adhar Card which showed his name as Aman Shah, she asked him if he was a Muslim. After finding his true identity, she left him.
On March 28, Aman met her and showed her videos and pictures saying if she will not adhere to his demands he will make his videos viral on the internet. He asked her to convert to Islam and threatened saying if she dare tell this to anyone he will get her killed.
Aman was arrested by the police
The police arrested Aman, on May 10 and presented him before the court on May 12. He has been booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 376(2)(woman raped by one or man person or in a group), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) with section 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.
Tried kidnapping the victim
Arti told Organiser that, after Aman showed the objectionable (intimate) pictures and videos to her she tried taking his phone to make sure the data is erased, however in response Aman manhandled her. He almost dragged Arti to the ground so as to get rid of the phone from her hands.
On the same day, Aman took Arti’s phone and erased all the data she had, be it pictures, chats, screenshots and everything. Now, she is left with no proof against him, she said.
Watch the video from the day here.
Extorted Money
This was a peculiar relationship where Arti was supposed to look after Aman’s expanses. She would lend him money, he would take her salary as if owns her, she was a mere puppet to him.
Arti said, soon after his identity was revealed he started blackmailing her, he was taking all her salary for the past six months. Once she failed to give him money that day, Aman said, she will have to sleep with one of his friends in exchange for cash. If she is not able to earn it at the workplace she can earn it with his friend.
The grooming and manipulation
At her workplace, Arti has a friend called Shabana. She has been feeding her Islamic texts and customs slowly. In a picture shared by Arti’s family, she can be seen wearing Hijab.
Other than this, on the day of the arrest, Aman’s mother held Arti’s hand and prayed for mercy, she said, no one would ever force her to convert to Islam.
Notably, one of Aman’s uncles was asking Arti to convert to Islam if she wishes to continue her relationship with him.
Aman’s mother said, she is open-minded and would have never forced her to follow their religion. She only wants their children to stay happy, told Arti.
Aman on the other hand said, he did all of this out of his anger and deep down he loves Arti, he was doing all of this to get rid of her as he believes he is not the right man for her, said Arti.
He added she should have given him a chance, they could have married each other as he is madly in love with her, and he wishes to marry her every single day. About being forced to sleep with his friends, he said he was doing this to test her.
About hiding his true identity he said, he knew if he would have revealed his original name she would have never accepted his love, said Arti.
After listing all of this Arti is convinced that she has done wrong with an innocent man, she should have given a chance to him, she ruined the life of his family, as he was the sole breadwinner.
Aman has his mother, a brother and a sister in his family. He worked as a Ground Staff member at the Pariwar Hospital.
The parent’s plight
Arti comes from the Scindia Marathi community. Her father owns a cart where he sells popcorn and runs an ice cream shop at fairs while her mother works as a labourer. Arti has an elder sister who is married to a man from their community and a younger brother who also works. Her family has rented a place in the Chana Kothra area.
Arti studied till class 9 and then she stayed at home to help her mother with the household chores. She never went to school again but did start working.
Arti’s mother while speaking with this correspondent said, “Mam you know what these Muslims do to our girls, Arti should be happy that he is now in jail and that he will not be able to spoil someone else’s life. We don’t want our daughter to be chopped into 36 pieces”.
Arti’s father, Roshan Rao Tanpude said, “We have not said a single word to this girl even after learning everything. I go to streets and fairs to make sure I earn sufficient to look after my children but look what they have done to us”.
He added, “She is blaming us for sending that bastard to jail, what else are we supposed to do? Wait for the day when he sells her off or chops her into pieces or brings three other wives with him or divorces her after using”.
Arti’s mother said, “Mam she believes he would marry her and his mother will treat her as queen, he was doing all of this to influence her statement in front of the court. She is a fool, while Arti from the background kept arguing with her parents and even threatened them saying she will commit suicide”.
Her mother said, “I will accept that but will never allow that bastard to get out of jail. I don’t want any other family or any daughter to face this”.
Arti took the phone and said, “What kind of justice is this, I accept he used me, forced me to entertain his friends, took my money, took my everything but I cannot forget his face today, he deserves to get another chance. And if now I will die”.
She was posting content like this on her Instagram profile;
“He was saying that he will change for me, he wanted me and I left him to die in that jail, so what he posed as a Hindu, so what he did all of that”, said Arti.
From behind her Father said, “You should be thankful to us because of us you are alive today, god knows what he would have done with you”.
Asked if they were aware of this he said, “No madam, I returned from a fair this week only, I go out for work, my wife goes to work, we trusted our daughter that she too was going out for work only but she failed us!”
He added they have found a call recording on her phone with Aman’s mother who is manipulating her and telling her how she can take the case back after a month and how she will accept her as their daughter-in-law. She told her how to get rid of the sin of sending her son to jail! added Arti’s father.
Arti was shouting from behind and hung up the call.
Arti a day before
After filing the FIR complaint against the man Arti told the media about how Aman cheated her by forging his identity. She told how she was used by him, she even called her father ten days back from a fair just because she wanted to take action against Aman.
Now she is irked over the action taken against him.
The activists
This correspondent spoke with the district Bajrang Dal head Manoj Rajak who is in touch with the family and also made sure the complaint is registered.
Manoj Rajak said the victim’s father contacted one of Bajrang Dal’s volunteers after he found out about the man. Before filing the complaint Manoj talked to the victim and told her what it takes to fight a case and what kind of questions will be asked in the court and everything. She affirmed that she wants to take action against the man.
She was fine until she left the police station after the FIR. On May 12, the police called them to another police station where they had kept Arman and his family. After getting in touch with them, she was taken to the place where Arman used to take her near Tanki wale Hanuman Ji temple. After returning from there she started feeling guilty for filing the FIR.
Manoj says it is hard to believe that this is the same woman who wanted to punish the man for his deeds. He says she has been brainwashed. The man and his family tried manipulating the woman so that she takes the case back, added Rajak.
The counsellor
The member of Madhya Pradesh Child Commison Megha Pawar who has experience dealing with stubborn children spoke with Arti on May 12 to understand what does she want.
Megha told Organiser, “Arti has been manipulated by the accused and family, she is petrified and there are reasons. Her elder sister Pooja is separated from her husband, she lives with them only, her parents live away from each other as they had to earn a living. With Aman, she felt as if she had someone who loves her. She gave her everything to this relationship even if it meant facing abuse and lending money.”
She fears no one will marry her after this. Arti told Megha that during her relationship with Aman she became pregnant twice and terminated the pregnancy both the time.
She added ‘Arti needs some time, as it’s not easy to go to police stations and courts for a girl of her age, she will take time to digest this cheating. She had blindly trusted the man and when he did this to her she could not bear it.’
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