'Pressure' on Tunisha to embrace Islam, claims mom Vanita Sharma

Mumbai, Dec 30 (IANS) Making a sensational claim, Vanita Sharma -- mother of the late actress Tunisha -- said for the first time that her daughter was under 'pressure' to convert to Islam, here on Friday.

Speaking to the media, she said that Tunisha was constantly harassed in different ways by her ex-boyfriend Sheezan Khan -- currently in custody -- and his family, she was forced to do many things against her wishes and was allegedly under duress to embrace Islam.

"They had an undue influence on our innocent, sensitive girl. She had even started addressing Sheezan's mother as 'Ammi', his sister used to take him to a 'dargah' and celebrate her birthday," said Vanita.

She said that Sheezan was allegedly forcing her to accept Islam religion, and she had reportedly started sporting a 'burqa'.

Vanita slammed the Khan family for compelling Tunisha to spend long hours or days at their home, ostensibly against her will, decorating their home for her birthday party, and she bought expensive gifts for them.

The distraught bereaved mother called upon the Palghar Police to rope in the Khan family for their investigations and at one point even voiced suspicions that Tunisha's death could be a 'murder'.

Recalling the sequence of events, Vanita said Tunisha wanted to go to celebrate Christmas in Chandigarh for a couple of days to get a change.

"A day before (December 23), I had dropped in on the teleserial sets unannounced, but she was very busy... Yet she told me to speak with Sheezan. I met him, but he just said he was 'sorry' and told me I could do whatever I want," said Vanita.

The Sharma family has also raised doubts at the purported delay of nearly 30 minutes to rush Tunisha to the hospital where she was declared dead on December 24, and are troubled as to "what happened in just a few hours" after she reached the shooting venue.

Vanita Sharma's contentions came a day after Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited the bereaved family, and assured to seek a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for them from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Tunisha, 20, committed suicide on December 24 on the sets of a teleserial being shot at a location in Vasai, and a day later, her co-star Sheezan was arrested after her mother accused him of cheating, two-timing, betrayal, 'using' her for 3-4 months and other things in a video-statement.

The Sharma family reiterated that "we want justice for Tunisha" who had no major illness barring OCD, and rejected the claims of the Khans that she was suffering from depression.

"If she was in depression, she could not have worked for long hours at shoots, memorising lengthy dialogues," Vanita pointed out.

Once, when Tunisha had checked Sheezan's mobile he became furious and slapped her and then announced he was breaking off with her.

"Knowing that our religion is different from theirs, seeing the huge age difference (around 8 years), why did they involve her so deeply, what are the reasons... Why did his mother speak long hours with her about Sheezan's ex-girlfriend which Tunisha said she did not like," demanded Tanisha.

She urged that Sheezan should not be spared and must be punished to ensure justice to Tunisha as she was cheated at every step.