The Supreme Court on Monday, January 3, asked the central government to consider the repatriation plea of Sonia Sabastian alias Ayisha, an ISIS bride from Kerala, who had left India to join the terrorist group ISIS and is currently lodged in a jail in Afghanistan, reports Live Law.
The apex court has asked the central government to consider the request of VJ Sebastian Francis from Kerala, who had approached the Supreme Court in August last year, for its response and directions on the extradition of his daughter Sonia Sabastian alias Ayisha and his 7-year-old granddaughter.
The Supreme Court bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai has granted eight weeks to the Union government to file its response in the case. The bench also granted freedom to VJ Sebastian to approach the High Court under Article 226 if he is not satisfied with the decision taken by the Union Government regarding the extradition of his daughter and granddaughter from Afghanistan.
Advocate Ranjith Marar, representing the petitioner, stated that the plea was filed in July 2021, prior to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Despite the fact that the prisons were razed after the Taliban took power, the counsel argued that Sonia and her daughter could still be jailed because there have been reports of detainees being held in border areas.
Hearing the plea, Justice Nageswara Rao observed: “We can direct the government to take a decision on your request because extradition matters are not matters where we can given decisions on…. all these are matters for the government to decide.”
Father of Kerala ISIS terrorist bride approaches SC, asks court to direct Centre to repatriate daughter and grandaughter
Earlier in 2021, VJ Sebastian Francis from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court for directions on the extradition of his daughter Sonia Sabastian alias Ayisha and his 7-year-old granddaughter. In his petition, Francis said that the authorities should take necessary action to extradite his daughter and granddaughter. He had further claimed that the issue was urgent as the political and administrative scene in Afghanistan would change substantially after the exit of US troops. Blaming the Centre for not facilitating the extradition, he alleged that the government’s stand was ‘illegal and unconstitutional’. He also alleged it was a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Reportedly, When Ayisha left India to join ISIS, a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was filed against her. In 2017, Interpol also issued a Red Corner notice against her. After she reached Afghanistan, her husband was killed in the war, and she had to surrender to Afghan forces in November 2019 along with other women.
Govt of India had declined to facilitate return of four Kerala women who had joined ISIS
The government of India had earlier announced that it would not allow the return of four Kerala women who had joined ISIS namely Sonia alias Ayisha, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, Nimisha alias Fathima, and another woman named Raffaela.
Soon after, Bindu Sampath, the mother of ISIS terrorist Nimisha Fathima had also urged the Indian government to bring her daughter back from Afghanistan. She had reportedly said: “I’ve heard that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very kind-hearted person. I have full faith in him.”
Bindu lamented that she had not received any communication from the Indian government so far. “But I am very positive because there will be other views also in the government. I am banking on that. I believe in God. I am sure that God will create a situation for her return,” she had opined.
It is notable here that when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, jails were broken and many former prisoners were set free. As of now, since the country is being run by the Taliban and it is not formally recognised by most governments in the world, there is no status update on former prisoners of the erstwhile government of Afghanistan. Indian citizens residing in Afghanistan legally with valid documents were evacuated by special flights arranged by the Indian government.
Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha went to join ISIS with her husband Abdullah Rashid
Sebastian, together with a group of 21 men and women from Kerala, departed India in 2016 to join the ISKP in Afghanistan, according to a charge sheet submitted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017. They had crossed the border from Iran to Afghanistan on foot. Sebastian, from Kasargod in Kerala, and her husband, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, departed India on May 31, 2016, according to the NIA.
Sonia Sebastian had earlier stated that
The NIA has been investigating cases where several non-Muslim women from Kerala were first converted, then married to Muslims and had then gone on to join ISIS as terrorists. ISIS recruitment and radicalisation of youth has been rampant in certain pockets of Kerala.
