Model from Pimpri-Chinchwad reconverts to Hinduism, alleges harassment during marriage to Muslim businessman

PUNE: A model from Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune district has reconverted to Hinduism after alleging harassment during her marriage to a Muslim businessman. The incident took place in Pimpri-Chinchwad, near Pune in Maharashtra.

According to the model, she married a muslim businessman, a resident of Mira-Bhayandar, in 2017 despite opposition from her family. Following the interfaith marriage, she converted to Islam and her name was reportedly changed.

However, the marriage soon turned troubled, she alleged, claiming that she faced both mental and physical harassment after the wedding. Speaking to the media, she said she was also pressured to change her religious practices after marriage.

“Even though I was not directly forced to marry, I was influenced in the name of love. Under that influence, I agreed to the marriage of my own will. But now I feel it was a case of ‘love jihad’,” she said.

She is Sayali Surve, a model from Pune, Maharashtra.

She went against her family and married a man named Aatif. She converted to Islam and her name was changed to Ateeja.

She believed her husband was secular, but later she was harassed and tortured. One day, she called her… pic.twitter.com/rMmrESMSKk

— Arun Chaudhary (@iarunchaudhary) March 10, 2026

She further alleged that after marriage, whenever she tried to follow Hindu customs and traditions at home, it was opposed. “Within a few days of the wedding, physical assault began,” she said, adding that she endured the situation for several years primarily for the sake of her children.

She said she eventually decided to correct what she described as her “mistake” and reconverted to Hinduism. She claimed that she has also brought her four children back to the Hindu faith.

She further stated that one of another daughters-in-law in the same family fully accepted Islam and continues to live with the family, while another daughter-in-law was also allegedly facing harassment but had the support of her husband.

Surve said she has filed a police complaint regarding the alleged harassment she faced over the past ten years and seeks security for herself. “Now I am not afraid of anything. I am standing strong for my children,” she said. (ANI)