Sheezan being falsely implicated in Tunisha death case, claims his family

Sheezan Khan's mother said Tunisha's mother should produce evidence for the allegations that she has been making against him

Days after late actor Tunisha Sharma’s mother claimed that her daughter was being forced to convert to Islam and wear hijab, the family of her boyfriend and co-actor Sheezan Mohammed Khan countered the charges and raised issues of mental health.

Addressing a press conference, Khan's mother and two sisters said Sharma was "like their family member" and alleged the deceased actor's mother used to force her to work even as Tunisha wanted to enjoy life.

Tunisha (20) died by suicide at the make up room of sets of ‘Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul’ in Naigaon in Vasai in Palghar district on 24 December after which Sheezan, her ex-boyfriend, was arrested by the Waliv police and is currently in judicial custody.

Last week, Tunisha’s mother Vanita Sharma claimed that her daughter is being forced to convert to Islam and that Sheezan was cheating on her and had a ‘secret girlfriend’.

Sheezan’s family members lashed out at Vanita Sharma and uncle Pawan Sharma.

Also read | Sheezan and his family were forcing Tunisha to convert, claims mother

Sheezan’s mother and sisters Falak Naaz and Shafaq Naaz, accompanied by Shailendra Mishra, addressed a press conference to counter the charges made by Vanita.

“All these allegations have also been made by that so-called uncle only. Tunisha fired him because she was unhappy with his interference,” Sheezan’s family said.

They also made it clear that the photograph of her wearing a hijab they went viral on social media was from a shoot. “All these talks about hijab, dargah, love jihad are baseless. Following a religion is our own personal choice. It is our personal space. We never force anyone. It is not even our right,” they said, adding: “Why are you stuck in religion? You should be talking about mental health….you should only be to find out why your child took this step, The truth should come out in the world.”

Khan's mother said Tunisha's mother should produce evidence for the allegations that she has been making against him. On the allegation that Khan had slapped Tunisha once during a shoot, the accused actor's mother asked, "Why had Vanita Sharma not complained to us or slapped Sheezan?" Naaz said everyone knew how Tunisha's mother used to call her many times in a day. "We also want justice for Tunisha, but her mother is trying to falsely implicate Sheezan in the case, that is not correct," she said. "We had decided to give Tunisha a surprise on her birthday on January 4. Her mother also know very well, she was like our younger sister.We had spent around six months with Tunisha which she enjoyed and we are proud of it," Naaz said.

On the charges that she was being taught Urdu, they said: “We live in India. So accepting a certain language or a religion doesn't prove anything.”

As far as the allegations of being taken to dargah is concerned, they said that charges should be sustained by evidence.

With PTI inputs