It has been more than a year since Bindu, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, spoke to her daughter Nimisha. When Nimisha left the country with her husband Bexen sometime in May last year, she had embraced Islam as her faith.
27-year-old Nimisha (Fathima) - born Hindu - had gone missing with her husband - a convert from Christianity and a native of Palakkad - to join the Islamic terror outfit ISIS.
More than a year after their disappearance, various investigating agencies including the NIA continue to probe the case. Nimisha's mother has now moved the Kerala High Court demanding an update on the case and has sought that her daughter and family should be repatriated to India.
A few months after going to Afghanistan, Nimisha had also given birth to a child.
Nimisha who became Fathima left to Afghanistan in May 2016 with Bexen who became Isa. Meril who became Miriam married and left with Bexen's brother Bestin who had changed his name to Eshiya. According to information that the family back home have received, Bestin died during a drone attack.
In her petition, Bindu points out that despite a year since her daughter and family were reported missing, she has not got any concrete information on them till now.
Bexen (Isa) and Nimisha (Fathima)
The mother has demanded the state and the central government to be accountable for the probe.
Bindu, in her petition, has claimed that Nimisha, her husband Bexen and daughter Ummu Kulusu, are under the illegal custody of some terrorists groups in Afghanistan and asked for them to be repatriated to India.
"The detenus are in the camp of terrorists or under their control, they may also be used as human bombs having destruction of human lives and disastrous to the humanity," the petition reads.
The petition to the HC was made after several communications with the Union Ministers did not get any results, the petitioner points out.
The writ petition that Bindu had filed ten days ago was considered by the court on Wednesday, and it has asked the state government and the NIA to submit a status report within ten days, her counsel Advocate C Rajendran told TNM.
The court has also asked the Centre, Ministry of External Affairs, the NIA and the DGP to initiate proceedings to repatriate them to India.
Notably, the writ petition was filed months after the Kerala High Court annulled the marriage of a Muslim convert woman named Hadiya, after her parents argued that there were efforts to recruit the woman to Islamic terror outfit ISIS.
Speaking to TNM, Bindu said that Hadiya's case had prompted her to move the HC for her daughter.
"In Hadiya's (born Akhila) case, her parents argued in court citing my example. They cited Nimisha's case and the grief I went through as a parent when my daughter converted and went missing, to join ISIS. I want my daughter and her family back," Bindu said.
What else does the petition say?
The petition also mentions Sajjad Rahman, a Muslim man who Nimisha had met at a coaching centre in Thiruvananthapuram. According to the petition, Nimisha converted to Islam at the behest of Sajjad, but he later severed ties with her. Following this, through a group of other people, Nimisha married Bexen, who had already embraced Islam and was going by the name Isa.
Bindu told TNM that although she had filed a Habeas Corpus with the HC in 2015 after Nimisha went missing (post her marriage to Bexen), the court had "set her at liberty."
"At the time, the court maintained that she was above the age of 18 and can live on her own will. Only if the court had sent them to a counselling centre..." she said.
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