The mother of a Kerala youth, who had allegedly joined terror organisation Islamic State (ISIS) in 2016, has been declared 'hostile witness' by a special court in Kerala for denying telling the crime branch that her son was getting radicalised.
According to a report in The Times of India, Ashfaq Majeed's mother said that whenever he used to speak to his friends — some of whom went with him to join IS — he would tell them to seek advice from 'Arshi bhai'.
Arshi Qureshi is the manager of Islamic Research Foundation under whose influence Majeed had allegedly fled to the IS territory.
After being declared hostile for not supporting the prosecution’s case, the mother was cross-examined by Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves. When asked if Ashfaq had told her that he is joining ISIS, she answered in the affirmative.
On Friday, she told the court that in 2016, her son went to Sri Lanka and returned in a month. After a few days, he again left claiming to be going to Sri Lanka with his wife and daughter and that he would return soon.
"But after he left, he called to say that he is not coming back. He said he had lied as otherwise, they would not let him go," Indian Express quoted the woman as saying.
In her statement to the Nagpada police in 2016, Majeed's mother had said that he was completing his education in Mumbai and that on his return to their village in Kerala, she had noticed that he was turning towards radical Islam.
Comments
0 comment