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How Maha ATS weaned 8 women off Islamic State clutches

Sources told DNA that during this period, eight women from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and neighbouring areas in the state, many of whom are converts to Islam, have gone through the ATS's deradicalisation programme.

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Over the past two years, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been confronted with a sensitive issue — how to deal with young women who were indoctrinated by the Islamic State (IS) propaganda and hoped to travel to IS-held territory.

Sources told DNA that during this period, eight women from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and neighbouring areas in the state, many of whom are converts to Islam, have gone through the ATS's deradicalisation programme. They were finally weaned away from the clutches of the terror outfit, but continue to be watched by security agencies.

Among these are a teacher of a private school, an engineer working in the civil aviation sector, a school girl from Pune, a graduate working for a private firm, and a girl who was rusticated from school for making advances on male students, sources said.

Overall, as part of its de-radicalisation programme, the state ATS has successfully counselled and prevented 60 men and women in Maharashtra from joining the terror outfit in the last two years. According to sources, 22 of them were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

"One of these women is a young graduate who converted from Hinduism to Islam. She belongs to a fairly well-off trading family, and became radicalised online through social media. Once she came under the ATS scanner, she was put through an intensive de-radicalisation programme and now works for a private firm in the city," said a source.

At the other end of the social strata is a rickshaw driver's daughter. "Though she came from a very humble background, her father tried to give her a good education. However, she was a nymphomaniac of sorts and was thrown out of her school due to advances she made on the male students. She converted to Islam and married a Muslim who took her as his second wife. After it was noticed that she was getting radicalised by the Islamic State propaganda, the ATS intervened and ensured she was counselled," the source said.

Another case is that of an engineer who worked in the aviation sector and earlier stayed in a Gulf country. She converted when she married a man working in the same field there. Following signs of radicalisation, she was counselled and now resides with her family in a state neighbouring Maharashtra. "Our counterparts in the neighbouring state have been informed of the case, and she is under their watch," said a Maharashtra police source.

"A particularly troublesome case was that of a young woman who worked as a teacher in a private school in Mumbai. She converted to Islam under the influence of a female colleague, and then became deeply radicalised. A major concern was that she had even begun radicalising others through Islamic State propaganda on social media platforms. She is currently working as a school teacher,'' the source said.

A young woman, who was enrolled in a good professional course and converted to Islam before marrying a classmate, even went to the extent of trying to enter the IS territory. "This woman and her husband travelled abroad to try and enter Islamic State-held territory, but were held by a foreign agency and deported to India. Both of them have been counselled," the source said.

One of the eight women was deported to Maharashtra with her relatives from a Gulf country, where she was engaged in a semi-skilled job. "The entire family, barring her father, were deported after it was found that she was overtly engaged in Islamic State activities. She used to transfer funds from one destination to another for the outfit. She and her family stayed in various states in India, and are now currently settled in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," a source said.

The ATS had also counselled a 16-year-old girl from a well-off Muslim family in a Pune suburb, who was preparing to travel to Syria to join the IS. "She is again displaying radical tendencies, and is being kept under a close watch," the source said.

"We have intervened in several cases in which young men and women were being indoctrinated through Islamic State propaganda, and have been able to counsel them and wean them away from subversive activities. While the effort is to integrate them back into the mainstream with regular jobs, they continue to be under watch," said Maharashtra ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni, when contacted.

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