- Celina Jaitly is fighting divorce from husband Peter Haag over abuse and custody issues involving 3 children
- Peter Haag has been booked by Mumbai Police under multiple charges including physical violence and harassment
- Twisha Sharma died in her marital home five months after marriage, sparking national outrage over dowry deaths
Celina Jaitly, who is fighting a divorce from husband Peter Haag on grounds of physical violence, cruelty, criminal intimidation, sustained harassment and custody battles over their three minor children, reacted to Twisha Sharma's dowry death in a moving Instagram post.
Underscoring the "invisible" violence in the institution of marriage, Celina urged parents of young women to support them before it's too late.
Twisha Sharma, a 33-year-old woman from Noida, was found dead at her marital home in Bhopal, barely five months after her marriage. The tragic death shocked the nation and stirred a wider conversation around dowry deaths in India.
Reacting to Twisha's death, Celina wrote, "Marriage is not always happily ever after. Sometimes the loneliest form of violence is the one nobody sees. The heartbreaking case of Twisha Sharma has shaken the entire nation.
"An educated, beautiful, talented young woman whose life became consumed by abuse, isolation, emotional suffering, and violence behind closed doors.
"And while her ashes are not even cold, while her grieving family begged for answers, postmortems, and justice for their daughter, conversations about plants not being watered disturbed many people watching this tragedy unfold.
"Because this is the frightening reality of abuse."
Celina continued, "Sometimes the suffering of women becomes so normalized that their pain slowly stops mattering to the people around them. Marriage is not always happily ever after. Sometimes the loneliest form of violence is the one nobody sees.
"Abuse is more than bruises. Sometimes it is isolation. Sometimes it is slowly being cut off from your world. Sometimes it is living in a foreign place with no family, no support system, nowhere to go. Sometimes it is being made to feel that you are the problem, that your pain is an inconvenience. Sometimes it is humiliation behind closed doors while the world believes you are living a beautiful life."
Celina cited her own situation, saying she was no longer financially independent after marriage and was fighting the battle on her own without parental support.
"In my own case, my parents had already passed away, I was no longer financially independent, and above all, I had three small children.
"Like so many women, I stayed longer than I should have because I believed keeping the family together was the right thing to do. I did not want my children to suffer. I had no one to turn to, and I was ashamed to admit how lonely I had become," Celina wrote.
"My heart goes out to Twisha Sharma's family, and to every woman suffering behind closed doors.
"Parents, friends, and family: if your daughter reaches out to you, bring her back. Do not let the abuse consume her," Celina concluded.
Celina Jaitly's divorce case
Celina's husband, Peter Haag, filed for a divorce in an Austrian court last year.
The Mumbai Police recently registered an FIR against Haag after the actress filed a complaint. Peter Haag has reportedly been booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with allegations of physical violence, cruelty, criminal intimidation, and sustained harassment.
According to reports, authorities are currently collecting statements and evidence related to the case, while investigators are also reviewing documents and records as part of the investigation.
Celina Jaitly married Peter Haag in 2010 after stepping away from mainstream Bollywood. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012, followed by another set of twins in 2017. However, they lost one of the children due to a medical condition shortly after birth.
Recently, Celina revealed that she was being denied access to her three surviving children and alleged that Peter Haag was breaching joint custody agreements.
Twisha Sharma death case
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi heard the matter on Monday, listed under the title "Alleged institutional bias and procedural discrepancies in the unnatural death of a young woman at her matrimonial home."
The top court urged both the accused's and the victim's families, as well as potential witnesses, to refrain from making statements to the media.
The case will now be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Twisha Sharma's family has alleged that her husband, Samarth, and his in-laws, including his mother Giribala Singh, tried to mislead the investigation and influence the case. Samarth was arrested 10 days after her death.