The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the Central government to respond to a petition moved by the mother of Nimisha Fathima, a Keralite woman now languishing in a prison in Afghanistan, for the repatriation of her daughter and granddaughter.
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Justice P.B. Suresh Kumar passed the order on a writ petition filed by K. Bindu, mother of Nimisha. According to the petitioner, her daughter’s husband, an Islamic State (IS) fighter, was killed in an attack. 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. Her daughter was among the group.
The Afghanistan government wanted to deport Nimisha and her minor child and other Indians detained in an Afghanistan jail. However, the Indian government had refused to take them back. It was the responsibility of the Centre to bring back its citizens. In fact, the Centre had neither confirmed or dismissed these media reports, said the petitioner.