BHOPAL, 23 April 2004 — Two Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders have produced clinching evidence in an Indore court about the alleged marriage under Islamic rites of actor-turned-politician Dharmendra with Bollywood star and Rajya Sabha member Hema Malini.
In court, the leaders produced fresh evidence — a “Nikahnama” — in support of their complaint against Dharmendra on the issue of his second marriage with Hema Malini. Dharmendra is the BJP candidate for Bikaner (Rajasthan) parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha elections.
Two Congress leaders K. K. Mishra and Akthar Beg produced the evidence before the first class Judicial Magistrate Narendra Jain.
Advocate Shailendra Dwivedi, who is representing the Congress leaders, submitted the evidence along with an affidavit. He said the court had completed the hearing of the complainants in the matter and had admitted the Nikahnama into evidence. The court would give its ruling on April 24, he added.
The Congress leaders alleged that Dharmendra married Hema Malini after embracing Islam, but without divorcing his first wife as per the Hindu Marriages Act. They demanded that his nomination be canceled, as the information in his nomination papers about his marriage to Hema Malini was incorrect.
They asked the court to order a criminal case against Dharmendra under sections 295, 298, 500 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Earlier they had submitted other evidence — newspaper clippings of 1980 which reported objections raised against Dharmendra’s marriage with Hema Malini by Rajya Sabha members during the Parliament session.
In the complaint the Congress leaders alleged that Dharmendra filed his nomination papers in the name of Dharmendra Singh Deol though he had converted to Islam on May 2, 1980, to marry Hema Malini and took the name Dilawar Khan. They alleged that by filing his nomination papers in the name of Dharmendra, he concealed the facts regarding his real name and religion.
