In a country where secularism isn’t just a word but a way of conduct, things have been slipping out of hand too hard and fast. Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, hardly needs any introduction. The steaming controversies are enough to point out that this emotion-laden, terrorist-centred Indian film is trending these days. In fact, you’d be surprised to know Kerala Story has become the fifth highest-grossing film of 2023 and is nearing the 100 crore box-office collection. The writers’ team, Suryapal Singh, Vipul Amrutlal Shah and Sudipto Sen, have picked up a true story–still out for debate though–and weaved it into a film that released theatrically on May 5, 2023.
It highlights the journey of four women–Shalini (Adah Sharma), Gitanjali (Siddhi Idnani) and Nimah (Yogita Bihani, who are brainwashed by their classmate, Asifa (Sonia Balani). We have been discussing their stories and know how they were targeted by some Muslim men in the name of love jihad. Love jihad is a broad term used by Indians to demonstrate the manipulation of a Hindu woman by a Muslim man in the name of love. While the victims need to come out of hiding, the culprits should be exposed as well.
Where Are The Kerala Story Culprits Now?
The jury regarding Sudipto’s claim regarding Kerala Story being inspired by the true story of 32000 non-Muslim women is still out. His claims keep fluctuating, the numbers aren’t steady either. For all of its controversial glory, some facts cannot be denied. Kerala Story is centred mainly around a Hindu aspiring nurse, Shalini Unnikrishnan. She was impregnated by a Muslim man and brainwashed to embrace Islam as her religion. This man then took advantage of her naivete and circumstances to recruit Shalini to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-based countries.
Shalini isn’t the only one to be targeted by such behaviour, there are a few more victims who were radicalized and scorned by Afghanistan and other ISIS-based terrorist states. Leaving the debatable 32000 figure out, I’ll be focusing on the story of three women–Shalini, Nimah and Geetanjali–and the culprits–Abdul Rashid Abdulla, Bestin and Bexin. These three have been indeed manipulated and radicalized by these men who do not deserve to call themselves Islamic advocates but sadistic terrorists.
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Culprit 1: Abdul Rashid Abdulla
Let us begin highlighting the culprits of Kerala Story with the first woman to be transformed into a terrorist, Sonia Sebastian. Kerala Story conveniently uses aliases to depict the story of these victims using aliases. An engineering graduate, Sonia has been a passion-driven girl ever since the go. She never expected to fall in love and who did she fall in love with? A hard-core ISIS agent and preacher, Abdul Rashid Abdulla.
Though not much about Abdulla and Sonia’s relationship is known, it is evident he brainwashed her using the same technique ISIS has been using–love jihad. He made Sonia believe in greater power and that ISIS was just promoting the concepts of equality and more. Sonia played by in his hands and embraced ISIS–I wouldn’t use the word Islam since she didn’t embrace the ideology of Islam but the terrorist organization ISIS.
Abdul Rashid Abdulla was passionate to serve his seniors and promote ISIS ideologies in Syria. To be able to do this, he used Sonia–now transformed into Ayisha–and started conducting classes on the ideology and workings of ISIS. They left Kerala in 2016 and became the first pair to join ISIS. This ISIS preacher has now disappeared off the face of Earth with little information regarding his whereabouts. It is presumed that Abdul Rashid Abdulla is either dead, arrested–though there should have been some kind of confirmation if that had happened–or still serving his mentors in ISIS.
Culprit 2: Bestin Vincent Aka Yahya
The next girl to be targeted by ISIS was Merrin Jacob, an IBM worker who lived a life of peace and was extremely religious. Her mother claims that Merrin was an avid Church goer and followed the principles of Christianity with all her heart. But then, she met her ex-classmate, Bestin Vincent, and her world was thrown off kilter unexpectedly. Bestin has always been a buoyant man and as religious as Merrin. So, his conversion to Yahya shocked Merrin.
He gifted Merrin the holy Islamic book Quran and laid a trap for her carefully. He then began placating Merrin and made her fall in love with her. Now, completely under his spell, Merrin converted herself to ISIS and become Mariaym. Both of them then migrated to Afghanistan where Merrin and Yahya served as ISIS soldiers.
What happened to Yahya and Merrin is still a mystery though. It is confirmed that none of them have returned to Kerala and presumably Merrin is in jail. Yahya, however, is assumed to be still in Afghanistan and an ISIS preacher.
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Culprit 3: Bexin Vincent Aka Eesa
Probably the most assumably gut-wrenching story is of Nimisha aka Shalini. Nimisha and Merrin have been friends for a long time and their partners, Eesa and Yahya aka Bestin and Bexin. Nimisha, with stars in her eyes and hope in her bloodstream, joined college with the positive anxiety we all bear on the first day of our college. She wanted to make new friends and enjoy her college life but Eesa took the opportunity away from her–or shall I say snatched? Well, never mind.
What happened after Eesa targeted Nimisha is her radicalization of Fatima. Nimisha didn’t only fell in love with a terrorist, and ignored the red sirens flashing right before her, but she also got pregnant and betrayed her family. With the supposed money Eesa’s father gave them, the couple were planning to start a life in Sri Lanka as per Nimisha’s mother. Given that Nimisha’s brother is a major in the Indian army, things are indeed off-putting.
Nimisha’s family recognized the trap laid for their then seven-month pregnant daughter but it was too late. Nimisha already became a part of the ISIs and began serving in Afghanistan with her husband, Eesa. Reportedly, Nimisha’s mother–and other parents, too–tried to seek help from the police only to be denied assistance. While Nimisha’s mother was struggling to embrace the fact that her daughter was now a terrorist, Nimisha gave birth to a daughter, Umme Kulusu. Eesa was killed brutally in the flight, leaving Nimisha and her daughter to spend the remaining of their lives in Afghanistan prison.
The Main Culprit Of The Kerala Story Is Supposedly A Victim Too
While these men brainwashed the women with their ideology and manipulation skills, there is a woman who orchestrated such heinous acts. Rehmat is the mastermind behind this atrocity. In the film, Kerala Story, the character of Rehmat is cosplayed by Sonia Balani as Asifa. The inspiration behind Asifa’s character is drawn from Rehmat who was coerced by the extremists of ISIS herself. Her true name is Shruti she was targeted to help garner more non-Muslim women so that they could be an accomplice to ISIS.
Just like the rest of the victims, Shruti is supposedly a victim, too. She, too, became a target and then began targeting other women, believing that was her purpose in life. It doesn’t come off as a surprise that Shruti was the leader of the gang but it didn’t take a second for her seniors to drop her when things got out of hand.
Where Are The Kerala Story Victims Now?
Again, let us leave the controversial numbers aside and only concentrate on the three victims–Nimita, Merrin and Sonia. After giving birth to her daughter and losing her child, Nimita was left all alone in a foreign country. She is still serving her sentence in Afghanistan prison and is yet to come out. How long will it take for that to happen is still unknown.
The other two, Sonia and Merrin, are supposedly in prison, too. All of them are paying off their crimes. There is no update regarding whether the Indian government will try to retrieve them. Their parents, however, are still holding onto the hope that they will get to witness their children in the flesh one day.
Where Are The Kerala Story Culprits Now: FAQs
It is an Indian film revolving around three women who were radicalized into embracing the ISIS ideology. They later became terrorists unknowingly.
The culprits of the Kerala Story are Bestin Vincent (Yahya), Bexin Vincent (Eesa) and Abdul Rashid Abdulla.
Their whereabouts are currently unknown but it is presumed that Bestin and Abdul are still a part of the ISIS. Bexin, however, is dead now.
Aside from Bexin, the other two are presumed to be alive.
Bexin was shot but the rest of the two are not known to have been bestowed such a fate.
She was manipulated by Eesa and later transformed into an ISIS terrorist. She is now serving a sentence in Afghanistan prison.
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