A 19-year-old Delhi-based Christian girl who flew to Abu Dhabi earlier this month and embraced Islam, has rubbished reports that she has been abducted and coerced into joining a terrorist group, adding that she came to the UAE for love.
Found My True Calling
“This is not true. I have found my true calling and have come to Abu Dhabi of my own free will. No one forced me. I am an adult citizen of India and can make my own decision,” Ciyani Benny, now known as Aisha, told Gulf News on Sunday.
A final year under-graduate student at the Jesus and Mary College, Ciyani attended classes until on September 18.
However, the same day, she took a flight to Abu Dhabi to marry an Abu Dhabi-based Muslim man she became friends with on social media about nine months ago.
Her parents, originally from Kozhikode, Kerala, filed a missing report alongside a police complaint saying that their daughter has been kidnapped.
No ‘Love Jihad’
Ciyani strongly denied that her case is that of ‘love jihad’.
Refuting the allegations Ciyani told, “This is not love jihad. I liked Islam and that’s why I am here. I had made the proclamation of shahadat (‘Ash-hadu ‘an laa’i-laa-ha ‘il-lal-laa-hu) while in Delhi, but not in public. But when I landed here, I proclaimed it publicly at an Abu Dhabi court. People might claim this is a case of love jihad because I was a Christian and unexpectedly went missing from home,” reports Khaleej Times.
Embraced Islam Willingly
On Saturday, she issued a statement saying that she embraced Islam in Abu Dhabi Court on September 24 of her own free will.
“I have accepted this religion and would ensure that I would live with the same faith,” she added.
In her statement, she urged the Indian government to take action against those spreading the “fake news” that she has been “abducted or is part of a terrorist group”.
Ciyani said her parents, including his brother have air-dashed to Abu Dhabi to meet her.
“I have told them I am not going back. I want to get married to live in the UAE,” she told Gulf News on Sunday.