Who Is Nimisha Fathima? The Kerala Woman Languishing In Afghanistan Prison

The Kerala High Court has sought Centre's response on repatriating Nimisha Fathima who left India to join ISIS in 2016. A plea filed by Nimisha Fathima's mother has compelled Kerala High Court to do this. Who Is Nimisha Fathima? 

Fathima’s mother alleged that the central government has taken no steps to bring back Fathima and her child from Afghanistan. As per a report, the central security establishment is against Fathima’s repatriation and three other women, their children from Afghanistan. They all had left India in 2016 and 2017 to join the Islamic State.

Who is Nimisha Fathima? Here is what you should know about her

1. Nimisha Fathima is a Kerala woman now languishing in a prison in Afghanistan.
2. Her real name is Nimisha Sampath. She was a Hindu and later embraced Islam. She also changed her name to Fathima Isa.
3. She got hitched to an alleged Islamic State (ISIS) operative from Kerala. Both were reported missing along with 19 others from the southern state in June 2016. They reached an ISIS-controlled territory in Afghanistan. She also broke all contacts with her mother in 2015.
4. Her husband was later killed in an attack.
5. As per news reports, after the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, former leader of the IS, in 2019 by the United States Armed Forces, a group of 10 women and 21 children had surrendered to the Afghanistan police. Fathima was among them.
6. She has a four year old daughter also.
7. As per reports, the Afghanistan government is keen on repatriating these women to India but the Indian government had refused to take them back.
8. According to her mother, she and her daughter would not pose a threat to the security of the nation or society if they were brought back. In fact, her minor granddaughter could be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the Indian society, she said.

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