Bindu Sampath, the mother of Nimisha—currently in an Afghanistan prison along with her four-year-old child for being part of ISIS, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to bring her daughter back to India to face legal proceedings here.
She has also written to Home Minister Amit Shah and National Women's Commission as media reports emerged that the Union government would not take measures to bring back the four Kerala women who left India to join the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) with their husbands.
"My daughter is guilty and she should be punished, I admit. But let her face the legal proceedings here rather than in a foriegn land," said Sampath. "My 4 year old granddaughter has committed no crime. Please hand her over to me," she said.
Nimisha is among the 21 people who went missing from Kerala between May and July 2016. Among the ‘missing 21’, including six women and three children, were doctors, engineers and MBA graduates. They had planned their trip so meticulously and the only ‘proof’ they had left back were the messages some of them sent to their families on Telegram saying they had reached Dawlatul Islam (territories under the control of the Islamic State).
Of the 21, most of the men are dead now and the women have been arrested and lodged in jail since November 2019.
Bindu fears about the safety of the women once the American troop leaves Afghanistan in September. "After that, the territory may come under the control of the Taliban. Anything can happen to the women," she said. Nimisha was a dentist.
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Gracey, the mother of Bestin and Bexon—two Christians who converted to Islam before setting sail for Afghanistan—told The WEEK that she also wished the government brought back her daughters-in-law, Nimisha and Merrin. Both her sons are dead now. "Let them be punished for what they have done, but bring them back to India... We could at least feel relieved that they are in their homeland," she said.
"Both my sons are dead now. All I have now are my grandchildren whom I have never seen. Wish I could get at least a glimpse of them," she added.
The family of Merrin, an engineer who had got converted to Islam and married Bestin, said they have left everything to God. "We have suffered enough in the last five years. We don't want to discuss the matter... Let the government decide what needs to be done," said Merrin's father Jacob.
The government, however, is unlikely to bring the Indians back as other countries like Britain and France have taken positions against taking back their citizens jailed in Afghanistan.