Father of Kerala ISIS recruit moves SC; seeks repatriation of his daughter & grandchild

The father of the Kerala ISIS recruit on Monday filed a plea before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking directions for necessary action being taken for extradition and repatriation of his daughter and minor grandchild. Currently, both are detained inside a prison in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The plea filed by the father also sought directions for the initiation of steps to extend diplomatic protection or consular assistance to the detainees through its Consular or diplomatic Office in Afghanistan.

Father of Kerala-based ISIS recruit moves SC 

In his plea, the father of the Keralite ISIS recruit said that the inaction of the Union Government to bring back the detainees constitutes a violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1948 (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966.

According to the plea filed by V.J. Sebastian Francis, extradition is being sought of his daughter Sonia Sebastian and minor granddaughter who left India in July 2016 with an intention to join the ISIS in Afghanistan, after his daughter's husband along with others decided to propagate the vision of the terrorist organisation ISIS is waging war against Asiatic Nations.

Remarking that his daughter and granddaughter were only accompanying his son-in-law and were actively not involved in the fight, the petitioner said that after his son-in law's death, they had to surrender to the Afghan forces in 2019. While referring to an interview of four Indian women including the petitioner's daughter, uploaded as a documentary on YouTube, the plea has stated that it can be seen that the petitioner's daughter is regretting her decision to join ISIS and wants to return back to India and face fair trial before an Indian court.

The petitioner has further argued that non-initiation of the steps for facilitating repatriation or extradition of the detainees by the respondents is illegal and unconstitutional as it violates their fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

The plea filed by Advocate Lakshmi N Kaimal and Renjith B Marar further read that, "India has entered into an extradition treaty with Afghanistan in the year 2016 and the Instruments of ratification of the Treaty were exchanged at Kabul on the 24th day of November 2019. Therefore by virtue of the extradition treaty each contracting state has agreed to extradite any person convicted or accused of an offence committed within the territory of one state but is found in the territory of another state. Since India has not taken a step for requesting extradition, the 1st detainee and the 2nd detainee are stuck in a foreign territory."

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