Shweta Tiwari and Raja Choudhary finalised their divorce over a decade ago. She accused him of domestic violence and said that he had a drinking problem, creating and unsafe environment for her and their daughter, Palak Tiwari. Now, years later, Raja shared his side of the story and claimed that Shweta deliberately kept him away from their daughter, and hasn’t allowed her to meet his side of the family. In an interview, he said that he occasionally speaks to Palak on social media, but isn’t in touch with her in the traditional sense.
While Raja admitted to being an alcoholic, he said that he has been sober for two years. He complained that Shweta never gave him an opportunity to talk things out. In an interview with Hindi Rush, he shared, “Resolving an issue or not is secondary, what is important is that, as humans, we need to have at least one conversation about the issue. Instead of creating that opportunity, Shweta brutally decided to take my daughter away from me. This is not right. She did this because she was more influential and powerful.”
Raja shared that while an individual has all the right to walk away from an unhappy relationship, they cannot create a gap between a father and a child.
“This divorce cost me all my money. It was like I died in a plane crash while she survived. She took away everything. She created a situation where nobody was ready to even rent out their house to me. She ruined my image. It was the court that helped me get back one of my flats (bought by my parents). If it was left to Shweta, she would never have given me a single penny.”
Raja dismissed Shweta’s past claims about sacrificing her marriage for their daughter. “She didn’t let me meet my daughter. She divorced me on a condition that I never meet my daughter. After a legal battle of about 8-10 years, I finally gave up.I was like, ‘Beti bhi na mil, tu bhi na mil‘. In all this process, a father dies. You can’t meet your child, fatherhood gets killed.”
He also said that he came from a family where divorce was an alien concept. “Shweta didn’t just take away Palak from me, but the entire family. She was born there. The entire family adored her and looked after her. Shweta disconnected her from all of them, not even letting her meet her grandparents. She harassed my entire family.”
Story continues below this ad
In the same interview, Raja confessed that despite all the restrictions, he sometimes chats with Palak on social media, but said that she “doesn’t have time” for him. “I keep writing her letters every now and then sharing my life updates with her. However, she is busy building her career, so she barely makes any time for me.” He claimed even when he was married to Shweta, he did all the planning for Palak’s future. “Shweta is an illiterate, how would she even know what our kid should study. Now, these things are planned by Google: Baap ki kisko zarurat hai?”
