NIA to Probe ‘Forced Conversion’ of Kerala Woman Who Said Husband Tried to Sell Her to ISIS

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over up the probe into the alleged forced religious conversion of Akshara Bose, who had moved the Kerala High Court last year, alleging that she was forced to convert to Islam by her husband, who then tried to sell her to the Islamic State in Syria as a sex slave.

The NIA had, in November last year, said that it was ready to take up the investigation into the case if the HC wanted. The agency is already probing the controversial Hadiya case, wherein the Supreme Court had recently ruled that the investigation could go as planned, except that her marriage to Shafin Jahan would not be probed.

What Is The Case?

Bose, born into a Hindu Ezhava family, is originally a native of Pathanamthitta in Kerala and resides in Gujarat along with her family. In her petition to the High Court, she had said that she met her husband Mohammed Riyas from Peringadi, Kerala, while she was studying in Bengaluru.

The 24-year-old accused Riyas of forcing her to have sexual relations with him and recording the act. He then blackmailed her into converting to Islam and marrying him, after which Bose took the name Aisha, she told the court.

She further alleged that he forged her Aadhaar card, got the marriage registered, and also forced her to listen to sermons by controversial speaker Zakir Naik, who has been accused of giving hate speeches by the government.

She also accused her husband’s mother of colluding with him and alleged that they received gifts, in cash and kind, for converting a non-Muslim. She said shewas also forced into wearing a veil and supporting ISIS.

In 2017, she alleged she was forced to go to Saudi Arabia, where she was confined to a rented flat and was told that they would move her to Syria to “sell her to ISIS terrorists.”

After physical and mental harassment, she said she managed to get in touch with her parents somehow, who got her a ticket back to Ahmedabad. She also alleged that there was a threat from Riyas and an activist of the Popular Front in Kerala.