"Who Will Compensate For My Losses?" Asks Kerala Man Arrested On Charge Of Selling Wife To ISIS After NIA Drops Case

After spending 76 days behind bars on the allegations of forcing his Hindu wife to convert to Islam and conspiring to sell her to the Islamic State, the National Investigative Agency(NIA) has finally dropped terror charges last week against a Kerala youth, saying that there was no evidence against him. Muhammed Riyaz was booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA). The 28-year-old is now asking who would compensate for ruining his life?, reported the Scroll.

Riyaz who hails from Kannur district said that the state and investigative agencies have ruined his life and said that he cannot get rid of the terrorist tag that was slammed against him. He further mentioned that he has lost his job and every other thing, and questioned who is going to compensate for his loss? He even asked whether the agency body will apologise for punishing him for the crime that he had not committed.

Sequence of events

Riyaz married a Malayali Hindu woman, Akshara Bose in May 2016 after she converted to Islam. She married Riyaz against the will of her parents who were staying in Gujarat back then. Her parents asked her to walk away from the wedding. Six months after the marriage, she was informed by her father that her mother met an accident and she has to come home immediately. After reaching her home she found out that she was lured wrongfully. She was confined at home. After knowing about the events, Riyaz filed a habeas corpus petition. Soon after this, the Kerala High spoke to his wife and ordered that she be allowed to live with her husband. After that, the couple lived in Kerala till June 2017. Riyaz secured a job as a manager in a courier company in Saudi Arabia. He moved out of the country in July 2017 and was accompanied later by his wife in August. Things went well until one day Bose received a message from her mother stating that she should immediately return back to India, as her father was ill. Knowing all the consequences, she went to Kochi to meet her parents on October 14, 2017. Till November 6, 2017, the couple were connected to each other. Riyaz said that after that day they did not communicate as her phone reiterated the “Switched Off” message.

Akshara allegedly filed a complaint on November 7 before the Kerala High Court. She accused her husband of conspiring to sell her to the Islamic State. The Kerala Police filed a related FIR on December 13 against him. The NIA arrested him on February 3, 2018. The decision to drop the terror charges is yet to be officially communicated to Riyaz, but last week, a senior Kerala police official confirmed that the charges have been dropped and the case has been handed back to the Kerala Police. Now the North Paravur Police Station in Ernakulam district, where the FIR has been filed against him, will look into charges of domestic violence against him.

Similar Case

Some of the allegations charged against Riyaz were similar to that of Hadiya case. The Hadiya case took place in 2016, where a Hindu woman from Kerala converted into Islam and married a Muslim man. Her parents strongly reviled her decision of marriage, and it finally reached the Supreme Court. The Kerala High Court had earlier annulled both of the husband and wife’s union, but the Supreme Court in March 2018, overruled Kerala High Court’s verdict and recognised their marriage.

Read the complete story here: Scroll

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