Family of Pune girl, suspected to be ‘suicide bomber’, allege ‘goof-up’ by J&K police

The mother and the relatives of the female teenager from Pune detained by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police have alleged that the “goof-up” by security agencies has made their lives miserable in the city.

The 18-year-old girl, whose family resides in Yerawada, had a security alert put out in her name ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in J&K. Quoting intelligence reports, security agencies in the Valley suspected her of attempting to carry out a suicide bomb attack during the January 26 celebrations.

Refuting allegations against her daughter, the teen’s mother said, “Security agencies have detained my daughter based on wrong information.”

Relatives were reluctant to speak and did so only on the assurance of anonymity in print.

“Everybody is now viewing the family with suspicion and the mother of the girl in particular is having a hard time,” another family member claimed.

Now, conflicting reports are emerging about the girl’s whereabouts, whose name has been withheld for security reasons.

According to Shesh Paul Vaid, director general of police (DGP) J&K, she is still under detention. “Let us confirm that nothing has come to fore till now. Let us investigate completely,” Vaid said.

However, the girl’s aunt, who asked not to be named, claimed that the J&K police have given her a clean chit and that the family has already left for the Valley to bring her back home.

News reports that couldn’t be independently verified reported she had enrolled in a nursing college in south Kashmir.

“We are verifying everything. As of now we have no evidence against her to prove she was on a suicide mission,” additional director general of police (ADGP), J&K, Munir Khan said.

Meanwhile, a maulvi who were involved in “de-radicalising” the girl said the convent-educated teen had at one point in time become a hardliner and showed an inclination to join Islamic State (IS), the terrorist group formed in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS.

The girl had been detained earlier by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Pune, after which she shifted her base to the Valley. One of the accusations recorded against her by the ATS is that she was planning to join ISIS.

Qari Idrees, who counselled the girl in 2015 after the ATS detained her, said, “The girl had shown inclination of joining IS. However after counselling, she changed her mind.”

The radicalisation is believed to have taken place online, according to police records. The girl, who turned 18 in November last year, was staying in Bijbehara near Anantnag as a paying guest.