Fed up of curbs by family, Muslim woman embraces Hinduism in Uttarakhand's Almora

Roshan Banu, now renamed as Roshni from Almora, embraced Hinduism with rituals at Arya Samaj Mandir in Haldwani.

Almora (Uttarakhand): A Muslim woman hailing from Uttarakhand's Almora converted to Hinduism after being “fed up with the injustice meted out to her” by her family. According to sources, the young woman Roshan Bhanu, now renamed Roshni, embraced Hinduism with complete rituals in Arya Samaj Mandir in Haldwani. Over her decision to convert to Hinduism, Roshan aka Roshni said she was forced to take the decision due to the “injustice” meted out to her by her family.

Roshan Bhanu, who is the eldest of the four children of Bashir Ahmad, a butcher from Almora city, said she got a government job in Hawalbagh Ranikhet in 2012 and is working as Nursing Officer in Govind Singh Mehra Government Hospital for the last seven years. She said that soon after she got the job, her parents started pressuring her to hand over the salary to them which caused her mental harassed. She further alleged that the parents asked her to register the house, which she bought in Haldwani with her savings, with her brother Sajid. The parents of her brother subjected her to mental harassment and started beating her, she alleged.

Sajid, she said, also threatened to kill her. She said that she complained about the matter to the authorities concerned after which her father and family members submitted an apology letter to the police on October 21, 2020, in which they said that Roshan Bhanu will never be harassed by them. According to Roshan Bhanu, the torture and mental harassment by the family forced her to break her relationship due to which she was “fed up” with her religion.

She said she reached Arya Samaj Mandir Haldwani on December 4, 2022, and embraced the Hindu religion by performing “Shuddhi Yagya”. She also changed her name from Roshan Bhanu to Roshni. She said that her relatives and friends keep visiting her asking her to return to her religion and family. Roshni has put a picture of Lord Vishnu and the founder of Arya Samaj, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, on her social media profiles. Roshni said that women are “given a lot of respect in the Hindu religion”.