Decision on quantum of sentence to Asiya Andrabi, 2 others today
VIVEK SHARMA
JAMMU: The conviction of Asiya Andrabi and her associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen has laid bare the systematic radicalisation machinery of the banned Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), an organisation that preyed on young minds and educated women to fuel a sustained campaign against peace, law and national unity in Kashmir Valley.
Investigation findings reveal that Sofi Fehmeeda was drawn into extremist activity as a school-going minor, joining DeM while still in Class 9, with her first detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) coming as early as Class 10. What followed was a cycle of indoctrination, repeated detentions and deepening involvement in anti-national activities: nine PSA bookings in all, before her arrest alongside Andrabi and Nahida Nasreen in 2018.
Far from being incidental participants, Fehmeeda, who hails from Srinagar, rose within DeM to function as its press and organisational functionary, acting as a conduit for separatist propaganda and mobilisation under Andrabi’s direction. Her education was repeatedly disrupted, not by circumstance, but by conscious adherence to a radicalised agenda that rejected constitutional order and social peace.
The case also underscores how formal education offered no immunity against extremist indoctrination. Nahida Nasreen, a Zoology graduate with training in Islamic studies, emerged as a senior DeM functionary and General Secretary, playing a strategic role in sustaining the organisation’s separatist narrative. Born in 1964 in Srinagar, she was among the earliest recruits of DeM and remained entrenched in its activities for decades.
According to investigators, Nahida’s, mother of two sons and a daughter, prolonged incarceration since 2018 has led to complete social isolation, with even family ties severed, a stark indicator of the human cost of extremist allegiance.
All three women were convicted in January 2026 by a Delhi court under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code for conspiring to wage war against the Government of India, promoting enmity, spreading seditious propaganda and active membership of a terrorist organisation.
The court held them guilty under UAPA Sections 18 and 38, and IPC Sections 121-A, 120-B, 153A, 153B and 505, affirming that DeM was not a symbolic outfit but a structured extremist platform aimed at destabilising the State and radicalising society, particularly women.
Dukhtaran-e-Millat, founded by Andrabi in 1987 and banned by the Government of India in 2018, was prosecuted following an NIA case registered on the directions of the Union Home Ministry, which concluded that the outfit functioned as a front for separatist and terror-linked activities.
The court will hear arguments on quantum of sentence on January 17, with prosecution seeking punishment that may extend to life imprisonment, signalling the State’s resolve to deal decisively with those who weaponise ideology to undermine peace and order.