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What's up with Liz Hurley and her in-laws? Only weeks after her big fat Indian wedding her FIL wants her to be put in prison????
Father-in-law wants Liz Hurley jailed
PAMELA TIMMS
IN DELHI
THE honeymoon is well and truly over. Just weeks after her lavish Indian wedding, Elizabeth Hurley is at war with her in-laws - and could face up to three years in an Indian jail.
This week, Vinod Nayar, her new father-in-law, announced he had disowned the couple, claiming he and his wife had been treated like second-class citizens during last month's ceremony at Jodhpur's Umaid Bhavan Palace. Now he has thrown his weight behind a legal action that might see Hurley and Arun Nayar, her husband, jailed for three years for mocking the Hindu religion.
Vishnu Khandelwal, a Jodhpur businessman who lives close to where the actress and model's Indian wedding took place, filed a writ through his lawyer soon after the nuptials in the city's Judicial Magistrates' Court.
Mr Khandelwal told The Scotsman that the ceremony made a mockery of Hindu traditions and was offensive to Hindus as the couple had already married in a Christian ceremony, while Hurley herself did not believe in the religious ceremonies in which she took part. He said he was especially outraged that the bride wore leather shoes and drank alcohol at the wedding.
"As Liz Hurley is neither a Hindu, nor has she accepted Hinduism, she has hurt the religious sentiments of the community by marrying in Hindu style."
Mr Khandelwal has demanded that a case be registered against the couple under India's criminal code.
The Jodhpur court accepted Mr Khandelwal's plea and a further hearing has been scheduled. If the judge accepts there has been a serious breach of the law, he will call Hurley and Mr Nayar to explain themselves before deciding whether to charge them.
In a new development, Mr Nayar snr has told Mr Khandelwal's legal team that he is ready to testify against her.
"Vinod Nayar assured me that, if needed, he will send his signed statement," said Mr Khandelwal's lawyer, Hastimal Saraswat. Mr Nayar, he said, had been horrified that Hurley had refused to remove her leather shoes during the ceremony.
The couple had already held a Christian wedding at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, before travelling to India for a series of parties and a lavish wedding ceremony conducted by a royal priest in the grounds of a maharaja's palace.
Indian government ministers and the Maharaja Gaj Singh II were delighted at the high-profile east-west marriage, which they believed would boost India as a "wedding tourism" destination.
But religious conservatives in India say their Hindu beliefs are being mocked. Under India's penal code, it is an offence to hurt the feelings of any of India's religious groups and it carries a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment.
Cases such as this have dragged on for up to 25 years.
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