“Pakistan made Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife and mother appear as widows to him, by forcing them to take off their mangalsutra, bindi and bangles,” said Union minister Sushma Swaraj today in her report to the Rajya Sabha about the hostile and humiliating meeting on Christmas day.
This was done deliberately, said Swaraj, and was part of the condemnable intimidation by Pakistan of Jadhav’s wife and mother. The external affairs minister also called “an absurdity beyond measure”, Pakistan’s allegation that there was a chip or a camera in Jadhav’s wife Chetankul’s shoes.
Swaraj also told the Rajya Sabha today that she spoke with Jadhav’s mother Avanti this morning and she explained, her voice choking with tears, how they made her remove her “suhaag ki nishani”, or “symbols of marriage”.
“I begged them saying I’ve never taken off mangalsutra ever, but they said I have to,” said Jadhav’s mother to Swaraj, the minister recounted.
“The first thing Kulbhushan said to me, when I went in to meet him is ‘How is baba’, becase he though something had happened when he saw me without mangalsutra, bindi and bangles,” Avanti explained to Swaraj.