“My Dear Daughter, Severe Not Your Family Ties”

Kochi: “I will not live without my daughter. I will never believe that she converted into another religion, even if the whole world says so. No one knows her better than I do. I know for sure that there are people who have conspired, to convert her into another religion. But how do we ever prove this? We do not have the money or means of doing it.” These were the heartrending words of Radhamani, whose daughter Nimmy pretended not to see her family members.

 Nimmy, on whom her own father, mother and brother had lavished all their love, now stands estranged from the family- she is now under the influence of Islam after having made a conversion into a Muslim. Nimmy, who is a Post Gradutate, with a B.Ed has taken to Islam a month earlier and is now studying in a seminary in Kozhikode, Tharbiyathul Islam. Her mother continues to live with the hope that Nimmy will return to the family after her 2-month study at the Islamic seminary.

The incident came into light when Nimmy, daughter of Karthikeyan, who hails from Kayamkulam Kanjirappilly, remained missing from the family. Her father filed a Habeas Corpus, following which Nimmy presented herself in the High Court on Friday. However, what surprised and anguished her parents were the utterances of Nimmy, when she said that she had made the conversion to Islam on her own, without any compulsions from outside.
 
The distraught parents feel that the very behavior and attitude of their daughter is far from natural. “Two days after our daughter was missing, we got the information that she was in an Islamic seminary in Kozhikode. We immediately went to see her there. Her demeanor, appearance, way of talking, everything seemed so far from natural,” said a heartbroken Karthikeyan.
 
“Let me, atleast now, realize God. I am prepared to even sacrifice my life for God,” said Karthikeyan, repeating the very same words his daughter uttered before him, when he went to meet her. Karthikeyan said that his daughter’s statements were mostly based on issues like the punishment that awaited one in the next world, following death. “A sinner would be roasted in fire in Hell,” is what Nimmy told her father.
 
“The authorities there were trying to send us away using force. They did not let us spend some time with our daughter. I fear that she is under the influence of some dreadful narcotic,” said Karthikeyan, who had also requested the court that his daughter be produced before a psychiatric counselor, which was unfortunately declined by the court.
 
Even as a child, when it came to studies, Nimmy has been a brilliant student. “She has been a voracious reader. However, we never checked the reading material she was going through. But following the news of her conversion, after we made a thorough check of her room, we discovered many journals and write ups from her room. They were highly inflammatory and extremeist by nature and were mostly ‘anti-Christian, anti-Hindu’ write ups,”  said Karthikeyan, her father.
 
“We suspect her friends at the Arabic classes at MSM College, Kayamkulam to have furnished her with these materials,” he said. Nimmy’s parents are clueless about the direction in which they must move henceforth, to get their daughter back. Her mother even remembers the instance where, in spite of there being a vacancy in St. Mary’s School, Kayamkulam, Nimmy was least interested in joining as a teacher, inspite of her B Ed Degree.
 
Nimmy’s parents believe that there are people who are involved in the hijack of their daughter from the High Court premises. “We are extremely sure that Nimmy is under the surveillance and custody of someone who is hiding behind the scene. This is what made Radhamani and me file for a Habeas Corpus, to take her with us. When we were about to take our daughter with us and as we were about to enter the car, the advocate representing the  defendant barged onto the scene, punched me on my face. I fell down. They thus took away our daughter. I don’t know why this was done. We are clueless about all these happenings. Things seem far from normal. There are so many unanswered questions too.Our suspicions regarding many things are now being confirmed too,” said Kathikeyan.  
 
“Recently, our home now receives threatening phone calls, saying that the entire family will be killed. We don’t care. If death will bring back our daughter, we are prepared for that as well. Even we die, our daughter has to be rescued, said Karthikeyan, who feel that death is hounding them, every minute they step out of home. The driver, who drove the vehicle in which Nimmy was forcibly taken away by the Islamic seminary, is now under arrest.

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