‘The Kerala Story’ unfolds again: Dalit girl abducted from Prayagraj, taken to Kerala for forced conversion and prepped for Jihad
The Kerala Story, a film grounded in reality which was criticized by Islamo-leftists has repeatedly manifested in different regions of India. The latest occurrence took place in Uttar Pradesh involving an underage girl who was trapped and brought from her hamlet to Kerala, where she was forced to embrace Islam and recruited for terrorist operations.
She finally found a way to break free from the nightmare as the authorities arrested 19-year-old Kahkasha Bano and 25-year-old Mohammad Kaif, who both reside in the same village. Meanwhile, a search is underway for another person identified as Taj Mohammad. Kaif even behaved inappropriately towards the girl and tried to violate her dignity.
A sinister objective
A 15-year-old Dalit girl from was lured from her village in the Phulpur area of Prayagraj and was then transported to Kerala where she was forced to convert to Islam and coerced into preparing for jihad. The shocking matter came to light on 28th June after Guddi Devi reported that a local woman named Kahkashan alias Darkasha Bano took her daughter in the name of better opportunities and money.
The authorities unveiled that the girl disappeared on the evening of 8th May after attending a local ration dealer’s wedding in her hometown of Lilhat. She was observed for the last time at approximately 10 pm. Bano who is also from the same neighborhood is accused of drawing the girl to the gathering by assuring her money and extolling Islam.
Afterward, she contacted Mohammad Kaif, who arrived via motorcycle and drove the two femles to Prayagraj Railway Junction. “During this, the victim was also molested in the Kaif,” informed DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Ganga Nagar, Kuldeep Singh Gunawat. Bano and the minor caught a train from Prayagraj to Delhi and subsequently to Thrissur in Kerala while the former was in regular communication with a man named Taj Mohammad during the journey. Bano informed him that she was coming with the girl.
Bano had even threatened Guddi Devi. “On 28th June, a complaint was lodged at the Police Station Phulpur by Guddi Devi, resident of Lilhat village, in which she informed that on 8th May, 19-year-old Bano, daughter of Mohammad Ismail, also a resident of Lilhat, called from an unknown number and threatened to kill her,” the senior officer highlighted.
The complaint also stated that the adolescent was told that other Dalit girls in Kerala had already converted and were living happy lives while she was on her way there. Additionally, it was claimed that some of these girls had been moved overseas.
The victim escapes
The girl expressed that after arriving in Thrissur, she was guided to a property with multiple young girls and bearded males. She stated that they talked about preparing for jihad and put pressure on her to convert to Islam.
She felt scared and ran to the railway station in Thrissur where she was discovered by the local police, who then notified her family. She was placed in the custody of Kerala’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
Her family members escorted her to Prayagraj with the help of the Phulpur Police. The top cop conveyed, “After contacting her mother from Kerala, the girl was brought back to Prayagraj and is currently being housed at a One Stop Centre for protection. A case has been registered against Darkhsha Bano, Mohammed Kaif, and an unidentified person who allegedly issued threats to the victim’s family over the phone.”
He added, “A receipt for action was given at Phulpur police station, on which a case was registered under relevant sections.” The cops also went to the victim’s house, spoke with her and sent out security personnel for protection after the complaint.
A jihadi nexus
According to DCP Gunawat, the girl was exposed to dubious people who initially enticed her with money, then persuaded her to change her religion and later pressured her to participate in extremist activities. He mentioned that Bano seemed to be associated with a Kerala-based organization that uses compulsion and seduction to convert young females before preparing them for jihad.
He further pointed out, “From the above mentioned report, it is known that the accused Bano is a part of an organised gang also involved in terrorist and anti-national activities by luring poor and Dalit girls, brainwashing them and forcing them to convert their religion.”
Taj Mohammad who Bano called several times while travelling is under investigation by Prayagraj Police. Kerala Police have started looking for him and they suspect that he is based in Thrissur. The Prayagraj Police have sent their initial findings to their Keralan counterparts. The official verified that three police units have been established to look into the actions of the perpetrators related to the case.
The Prayagraj and Kerala police are working together to carry out a more extensive probe because they suspect an organized network is targeting poor and Dalit girls. “A thorough investigation is being conducted into the activities of Darkasha Bano. Strict action will be taken against others found involved. They will investigate this matter thoroughly,” he emphasised.
More individuals have been questioned by the police as the inquiry is underway. The Prayagraj Police encouraged people with knowledge of similar events to come forward and notify the appropriate authorities. The cops had been making efforts to ensure that the girl is provided with the required support and protection.
An uncomfortable reality
Contrary to the assertions made by Islamists, liberals, and their entire ecosystem, these incidents are not exceptional but rather the norm, especially in Kerala which has noted an alarming rise in Islamic radicalism in recent years. Muslim youth in the state often entice Hindu and even Christian females at the urging of their religious leaders. These girls are married and converted to Islam before they are shipped to Middle Eastern nations like Syria and Iraq, where they are either utilized as sex slaves or as terrorists.
Kerala has been recognised as a significant center for ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) with its origins traced back to 2013 in the state. It established a foothold there, creating modules that encourage religious conversions, in early 2014. The prohibited terrorist group, Popular Front of India (PFI), is primarily responsible for turning Kerala into a hotspot for ISIS recruitments.
Kerala has seen a large number of conversions, particularly between 2008 and 2009. The females were transferred to ISIS along with their Muslim husbands. The horrifying tales finally gained attention in 2016 after they were first detained and then investigated in Afghanistan. The instance of the four girls who joined ISIS in 2016 with their spouses was one of the most infamous cases.
They were identified as Merrin Jacob Pallath alias Mariyam, Nimisha alias Fathima Isa, Raffaela and Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha. Nimisha was Hindu while other three were Christians. Nimisha wed an MBA graduate from Palakkad named Bexin Vincent. They took the names Fathima and Isa after their conversion.
Merrin Jacob was married to Bestin Vincent, also known as Yahiya, Bexin’s brother. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) identified the architect behind this entire plan as Abdul Rashid Abdulla, a resident of Kasargod, whom Sonia Sebastian married in 2011. Raffaela was married to a doctor from Kasargod named Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil.
Desire for Islamic caliphate
The young women were tricked into adopting Islam and departed India in 2016 with their spouses to join a group of 21 Keralan men as well as women in Afghanistan. They wanted to become members of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Khorasan branch of ISIS. They were brought to Iran and afterward entered Afghanistan.
They surrendered in 2019 after their spouses were murdered in joint Afghan-United States attacks against Islamic State (IS). They were imprisoned in a Kabul prison with their children and were liberated when the Taliban broke into multiple prisons in the city during their 2021 takeover of Afghanistan. All of them stated that they would like to return to India.
Yasmin Ahmed Jahid, who was apprehended by the NIA in 2023, also admitted during questioning in 2016 that she had recruited 22 Keralans, including six women and three children, into ISIS. They were dispatched to ISIS-controlled regions of Afghanistan. She asserted that Abdul Rashid Abdulla had indoctrinated 40 young individuals in Kerala by that time.
Yasmin herself regularly participated in the religious classes conducted by him and his wife. She was charged with recruiting 15 members of the terrorist group from the Kasaragod district. She further revealed that ISIS enlisted Keralans and transported them from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai airports to Kuwait, Dubai, Muscat and Abu Dhabi. They crossed over to Afghanistan from Iran. The goal was to support Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by establishing a caliphate.
Church raises alarm
Metropolitan Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany of Thalassery (previously Tellicherry) Archdiocese, Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, voiced his fears about the issue of love jihad in a pastoral letter on Easter in 2023. The archbishop declared in 2022 that he is relying on reliable information to support his claims that these love traps prey on young women associated with the Christian community are real.
During his speech in the Kottayam district in September 2021, Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt discussed the twin problems of narcotic jihad and love jihad. He asserted that jihadis trick and then expose Christian women to exploitation, forced conversion to Islam and terrorist acts in the name of love. He also highlighted the names of Sonia Sebastian and Nimisha Fathima.
The church issued a statement in 2020 voicing concern over the growing number of love jihad incidents in the state and argued that they were part of the Islamic State’s larger scheme to undermine Kerala’s religious and social cohesion. According to the church’s synod (council of bishops), which was presided over by Cardinal George Alencherry, 12 Christian women who converted to Islam were among the 21 women who travelled to Syria after being recruited by the IS in 2016.
They attacked the Kerala Police for failing to prevent forced conversions and made the decision to teach the Christian community about love jihad. According to the Syro-Malabar Church, the authorities were notified of the sharp increase in love jihad cases, but they failed to set up a comprehensive investigation, thus a resolution was approved which clarified that Christian women in Kerala are being killed under the pretext of love jihad.
“The Left (CPM-led Left Democratic Front) and the Right (Congress-led United Democratic Front) are competing to appease jihadists by covertly and overtly justifying the form of terrorism known as love jihad. We should not allow the jihadists to grow in their (LDF’s and UDF’s) shadow. For that, we need to cut down the trees that provide them shelter. Think, act,” Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action, a Kerala-based Christian group charged in a 2021 video. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) has been the ruling government in Kerala.
George Kurian writes to Amit Shah
“The spate of organised religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through love jihad has shown the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals,” vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities George Kurian wrote to union home minister Amit Shah in 2019.
He added, “It was based on my letter that the NIA intervened in the Kozhikode case and the accused has been arrested. While the central government is doing enough to try and stop these love jihad cases, the allegation is that the Kerala government needs to pull their socks up.”
Kurian mentioned another case involving a Delhi-based Christian girl who disappeared the year before and outlined, “She was traced to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) after I alerted the government about this. The girl was brought to the Indian embassy in UAE where she told her family that she was forced to convert.”
He even utilized a study from the Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, which discovered that between 2005 and 2012, there were 4,000 cases of love jihad.
The truth is that through love jihad, the promises of an afterlife in paradise, financial incentives or other tactics to attract young and naive persons, particularly from the Hindu community have persisted for many years, with incidents rising in recent times. People from disadvantaged backgrounds have also been exploited by Islamists to further their evil agendas.
It is evident that the methods are inconsequential to these groups, as they seek to carry out terrorism in India and propagate jihadi ideology in any manner possible. Furthermore, the recent incident has once again demonstrated how alarming reality is and how these groups have infiltrated deeply within the country.
No matter how much the left-liberal ecosystem tries to undermine the dangers of Islamism, particularly in Kerala, including rejection of love jihad as conspiracy, the reality is distinctly opposite and, unfortunately, extremely perilous.
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