Months after nearly 21 people from Kerala went missing to join the Islamic State (IS), family of one of the missing people received a message informing them about the birth of a newborn.
Vincent, father of Bexen and Bestin-both brothers from Palakkad-received a text message from Bexen saying that his wife Fathema (Nimisha) had given birth to a baby girl.
When the couple went missing in June this year, Nimisha was expecting.
“We received a text message from him three days ago, and it wasn’t sent through Telegram app that they normally used to send messages on,” Vincent told The News Minute.
Kilometers away in Thiruvananthapuram, Nimisha’s mother Bindu was unaware of the message Bexen’s family had received, until she was informed by the police.
Nimisha, a Hindu had converted to Islam months before her wedding to Bexen.
According to reports, the two couples and few others went from Bengaluru to Iran and then travelled to Afghanistan’s war-torn Nangarhar province.
Since the first week of June when Nimisha sent her a message saying they were leaving for Sri Lanka, Bindu has since not heard from her daughter who was pregnant at the time she went missing.
“Bexen’s family did not inform me about the latest message they received. I don’t know how to react to the message,” Bindu told The News Minute.
Bindu said that the message informed about the birth of a baby girl and that both the baby and the mother were keeping well.
“The message also contained some Islamic prayers,” Bindu said.
When Bindu first approached the media after reports that some missing youths from Kerala were suspected to have joined the extremist group, she had categorically demanded that the police find Nimisha and bring her back.
"My daughter is pregnant and is expecting in August. She's in danger, I want her back," Bindu had told reporters then.
Uncertain of how to react to the news about the birth of her granddaughter, Bindu reiterates that she is now concerned for the safety of the baby too.