&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "From Babita to Khadija: How 'curiosity' allegedly drew a Jaipur woman into Jaish-e-Mohammed's web before a UAPA arrest")
Days after the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a woman identified as Babita Dhakad on charges of involvement in anti-national activities, investigators are now searching for answers on how an ordinary person ended up in conversation with one of the most wanted terror networks. Babita alias Khadija has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). According to reports, the 38-year-old Jaipur woman's descent into extremist circles was simply "borne out of curiosity".
A curious case of curiosity
Talking to the Indian Express, an official revealed that Babita's interactions with Jihadi and anti-national social media pages, and eventually terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), were simply "borne out of curiosity". The official revealed that the Jiapur woman "used to watch their videos and found them to be brave and charismatic".
According to the report, Babita’s disillusionment with society and life may have contributed to her alleged anti-national activities.
The story of Babita, aka Khadija's purported disillusionment with life
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As per the report, Babita got married in 2017, but the marriage did not last even a month. She later took up a computer course, which led her to spend more time on the internet. Over time, she allegedly began interacting with questionable pages, handles, and profiles on social media.
Allegedly, as she started getting more and more into the ideology, she started interacting with pages associated with JM, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), among others. Babita especially started "liking the pages with guns as the profile picture", an officer told the publication.
The Jaipur woman reportedly joined more than 300 such social media groups and eventually exchanged phone numbers with some individuals behind them. Police also found contacts from Afghanistan and Pakistan on her phone.
Online friendships, marriage, and the name Khadija
According to the report, the purportedly disillusioned woman was lured by a man who identified himself as Abu Ubaidah, a close associate of JeM founder and leader Masood Azhar. The person kept praising her beauty and eventually the two got married in a "ceremony" that was arranged with a Muslim cleric, where she was asked to recite a kalma for conversion, taught about the Islamic holy book Namaz and given the name, Khadija.
After her arrest on June 22, police allegedly found evidence of concerning anti-national activity that she had been carrying out online.
Also read | Suvendu Adhikari proposes anti-conversion law to tackle 'love jihad' in West Bengal: Key provisions, penalties and more | WION Decodes
The case against Babita has been lodged under UAPA sections 38, which deals with membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation), as well as BNS section 238, which deals with causing the disappearance of evidence. Babita had allegedly deleted data from her phone, which is currently with the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).'
Investigators say she was caught early. and hadn’t been assigned any tasks yet, and neither did she pass on confidential info. But she allegedly bought SIM cards that others were using on WhatsApp.Officials called her “ultra-radicalised” and a “major potential threat.”
