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| AS Sainaba |
In an interview to TNM's Saritha S Balan, NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said that CM Pinarayi Vijayan was like "an ostrich who is keeping his head buried in the sand."
National Commission for Women acting chairperson Rekha Sharma on November 8 said that the Popular Front of India women’s wing president, AS Sainaba, converted several women in Kerala, apart from Hadiya, to Islam.
Rekha Sharma said that the parents of some of the women, who have been allegedly forcefully converted in the state, told her that Sainaba was behind the conversions.
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| Rekha Sharma |
“It was after meeting them that I understood that Sainaba was behind this. Not only Hadiya, but she converted other women too. I have met Sainaba. She complained that she is being framed by some media outlets,” she said.
Rekha Sharma said that she has forwarded 11 complaints of forceful conversion to the DGP. “I have got some other complaints also, but they are before the court now,” she told the media after meeting State Police Chief Loknath Behera at his office in Thiruvananthapuram on November 8 morning.
In January 2016, Akhila, a student at a Salem college, left with her roommates to study Islam. However, her friend’s father Aboobacker refused to keep Akhila at their house and approached Sathya Sarani, an educational institution and conversion centre in Manjeri, Malappuram. Sathya Sarani sent Sainaba, a social worker, to meet Akhila. From January 7, Akhila started staying with Sainaba.
Akhila later converted to Islam and assumed the name Hadiya. Though the court allowed Hadiya to live with Sainaba, it had at one point questioned Sainaba’s source of income and how she was able to afford the expenses. Later, the court was angry at Hadiya’s ‘sudden’ wedding to Shafin Jahan at Sainaba’s behest and annulled it.
When TNM spoke to Sainaba, she denied the allegations and said that the visit of the Commission to the state is mysterious.
“In how many police stations in Kerala have there been cases against me? Not a single one. The Women’s Commission can check with any of the police stations. The investigation on the complaint against me is going on now. The Kerala police grilled me twice, the Crime Branch had also probed the case and now it is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency. NIA has also questioned me. The Kerala police has filed a report in the High Court. Everything is happening in a transparent manner,” Sainaba said.
She also questioned the real intention behind the NCW’s visit. “What she claimed was that she came to meet the victims of what they claim as forceful conversion. But the people she met are accused in the cases. She met the one who runs the controversial yoga centre at Thripunithura. In Ernakulam, she didn’t even conduct a proper sitting. About the complaints she is referring to, she doesn’t even know who the complainants are,” Sainaba alleged.
Sainaba even went to the extent of saying that she has now become a victim. “I have become a victim now. It has been going on for years. If not me, they will find someone else in the place of an opponent. How long can they cover the truth with untruth? Even I can give a complaint against someone, but would it last without any basis?” she asks.
But Sainaba candidly says that Rekha Sharma was open to listen to her when she met her with a complaint. “I met her at the sitting in Kozhikode with the complaint that some media outlets with vested interests have been targeting me and that a media propaganda is going on against me. She listened to me in the limited time and promised me to give me more time if I can go and meet her in Delhi,” Sainaba said.
"I have been here (in Kerala) for a few days, and I am aware that forceful conversion is taking place. The Chief Minister is still not taking the issue seriously. He might have seen the Aamir Khan movie, where he says 'All is well.' And is under the impression that all is well in the state," Rekha Sharma said.
Saying that the situation in Kerala was "grave", she called for immediate action from the part of the government.
"Neither the government nor other political parties are taking this seriously. They need to wake up," Rekha said.
Rekha said that there are young people who are forcefully converting "vulnerable women" and that these elements were receiving foreign funding.
"There are many young people who are forcefully converting vulnerable young women in Kerala, to another religion. These men must be getting financial assistance from outside India. The foreign funding behind the conversion of vulnerable young women in Kerala must be probed," Rekha pointed out.
"This is human trafficking," she added.
Rekha added that she would recommend an investigation by a specialised agency, to probe where the money for these conversions was coming from.
Not just individuals, but institutions that facilitate forced religious conversions should be probed too, Rekha added.
Asked about the alleged involvement of Popular Front of India (PFI) in facilitating religious conversions, Rekha said: "I have heard the name of agencies like 'Satyasarani' in Malappuram, where lot of such incidents occur. Such organisations should be investigated."
After meeting 25-year-old Hadiya, a Muslim convert whose marriage to a Muslim man was annulled by the Kerala High Court, Rekha had said that there was no "love jihad" in that case.
Speaking to TNM, Rekha said that the term 'Love Jihad' was not right, explaining: "Jihad can't come with love. How can there be jihad where there is love?"
Asked about her meeting with Hadiya, Rekha refused to divulge more information. However, she said that Hadiya was fasting for four days to be "mentally strong."
"Although Hadiya is "mentally weak, she is physically alright," Rekha said.
At the government guest house in Thiruvananthapuram's Thycaud, Rekha met Bindu Sampath, the mother of Nimisha (Fathima) who embraced Islam and later married a Muslim convert and went to Afghanisthan to allegedly join the ISIS.
After the meeting, Bindu told TNM: "It has been one year and five months since my daughter went missing. There is no update on the case at all. If I were able to go Afghanistan I could have done it." (Courtesy: The News Minute)
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