Sadiya: Went to police myself after being called ‘suicide bomber’

Sadiya Shaikh, the 18-year-old woman who was released by Jammu and Kashmir police after failing to establish any terror links, on Monday said she had herself walked up to a police station after finding out that she was being called a “suicide bomber” by intelligence agencies.

Sadiya was detained by J&K police while she was in Kashmir after intelligence agencies gave inputs that she may carry out a suicide attack on or around Republic Day. After questioning her, the police did not find any terror links and she was handed over to her family recently. Sadiya returned to Pune on Sunday morning.

On Monday, she, along with her mother, held a press conference to clear her stand on the whole issue.

She said, “I had traveled to Kashmir on January 16 to take admission into a nursing course in a college. I was staying at my friend’s place in south Kashmir and on January 26, I saw my name in the newspapers where I was being called a suicide bomber.”

Sadiya stated that the J&K police did not detain her. She herself had approached them after her name was flashed in media reports. “I was never arrested by the police. In fact, I only …read more