Framed for being Kashmiri Muslims, says family of couple arrested for IS links

The family of the Srinagar couple arrested on Sunday from south Delhi for alleged links with the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP) and instigating protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) said on Monday said that the two are being framed.

Jahanzaib Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh, both in their late 30s and residents of Srinagar, were detained from their rented home in Okhla Vihar on Sunday and booked for sedition and promoting enmity between different communities under Sections 124A and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), police officials said.

The family of the couple said the two were professionals with no interest in CAA or ISIS. "We are shocked. They are being framed just because they are Kashmiri Muslims. They are career oriented people and have a very clean record. They had no interest in the Kashmir issue and the CAA is out of question. Why would they instigate other people?," asked Sami's sister Sehrish Sami.

On Sunday, DCP, special cell, Delhi Police, Pramod Kumar Kushwah said the two were members of the banned terrorist outfit and were propagating its ideology of hatred against non-Muslims and thereby also inciting Muslims to kill non-Muslims.Delhi police officers also said that the couple had created several anonymous accounts on social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, Threema, Surespot, Instagram and Twitter to propagate the ideology of the Islamic State. They were also circulating material against the Indian government over the new CAA.

Mehjabeen Begum, the mother of the man, was inconsolable. "All the allegations against them are false. There is so much propaganda on media against them. They have never done anything wrong nor would they write anything wrong. Have they been arrested because my son has a beard and my daughter-in-law wears purdah? ," Begum said.

Fathers of both the man and his wife have arrived in Delhi and met with the couple.

Sami has a BTech and MBA, and was working as a project manager with a UK based IT company in Srinagar, the family claimed. They refused to name the company. The company asked him to shift to Delhi after the internet shutdown in J&K following the revocation of the erstwhile state's special status on August 5 last year. He married Hina Bashir Beigh, an MBA in finance and marketing, in October in Srinagar and the couple started living on rent in south Delhi. Sami's father owns a manufacturing unit in Kashmir while his mother is a retired teacher.

"He had no plans to go to Delhi and he wanted to settle down in Kashmir after working in Pune in 2017-18. He returned in mid 2019 because of a job opportunity but then he was asked to temporarily shift to Delhi because of the internet shutdown here" said Sehrish Sami, adding that with the internet being restored , the two were considering returning.