Unlike Hadiya, This Kerala Woman Says She was Forced to Convert, NIA Begins Questioning Accused

New Delhi: Two days after NIA registered an FIR into alleged case of sex slavery and selling of an Indian girl to IS in Syria, the agency has begun questioning two accused.

Fawas Jamal and Mohammed Siyad are being questioned by NIA to get to the bottom of the alleged conspiracy. A 25-year-old woman has alleged that her husband, in conspiracy with Jamal, Siyad and others, had raped her, confined her in Saudi Arabia and attempted to sell her off to ISIS in Syria.

The NIA FIR states the girl, who is a native of Kerala but resident of Gujarat, was lured into marriage by a PFI worker Muhammed Riyas Rasheed. He allegedly recorded her objectionable photos/videos on phone and blackmailed her into converting to Islam and marry him.

The agency is questioning the accused to find out if Riyas received money from Middle East to carry out forcible conversion of the victim.

The victim has alleged that the accused in conspiracy with her husband had forged her Aadhaar card, created a fake passport and taken her to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August, 2017 with the intention of selling her to ISIS.

Sources said that NIA investigation will probe the source of money and also if a network for forcible conversion is operating in Kerala.

"So far the FIR is based on allegations made by the victim before the court. We will question her and see if she has evidence to back up her charges," an NIA official told CNN-News18.

The agency has slapped charges of rape, forgery, wrongful confinement, forceful conversion, attempt to disrupt communal harmony and terror charges under UAPA against nine people, including the victim's husband Muhammed Riyas Rasheed.

NIA has been examining what it calls a pattern of forcible conversions in Kerala. Ninety such cases were referred to NIA by Kerala police last year.

"This is first case where a woman is alleging that the marriage happened against her will. This is different from the Hadiya case where the woman insisted that she married and converted of her own free will. NIA will examine if a deliberate conspiracy was hatched in this case," an officer said.