On Sunday, an 18-year-old girl adorning a black niqab flanked by her parents sat facing multiple cameras at a press conference in Pune. In a span of three years, a prominent section of the media has given her many identities: An ISIS (Islamic State) fighter, jihadi, radical, suicide bomber, desperate lover and mentally-unstable woman.

When Sadiya Anwar Shaikh finally addressed the press, her most poignant statement was: “I do not want to look back at the past.”

‘Kashmir mein lady bomb’

On January 25, some media outlets reported that the Jammu and Kashmir Police had issued an alert stating that a Pune-based woman had entered the Valley to “cause a suicide bomb explosion” on or around Republic Day. By the next day, reports of the “school dropout” being held for intense questioning emerged.

By January 27, the J&K Police confirmed that the warning was “wrong”. Speaking to The Indian Express, Inspector General Muneer Khan said: “She was picked up from south Kashmir last night… I think she is not mentally stable.”

Not one media organisation questioned Khan on what he meant by “mentally unstable”. Neither did the media bother to confirm whether Shaikh was really a school dropout or not.

Instead, the 18-year-old was simply dubbed a “suicide bomber”, a serious threat to national security with tacky headlines and news shows dedicated to her.

News18 ran a sensational report on a ‘lady fidayeen’. The report is a textbook case of blatant stereotyping showcasing images of women in burqa and a doomsday background score.

Tez, an India Today offering, went a step ahead and reported how Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and the entire country were saved from a suicide bomb attack in the nick of time.

Not to be left behind, India TV linked Shaikh directly to ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

None of these reports were in the realm of speculation – they presented Shaikh as a bonafide suicide bomber whose plans of blowing up the Valley were thwarted at the last minute.

New twist

Within a few hours, the story took a U-turn. Apparently it wasn’t a suicide attack but love that had dragged Shaikh all the way to the Valley.

“She told her mother that she was going to Kashmir. She said either she would settle down there or become shaheed (martyr), but would never come back. Her mother, fearing for the safety of her daughter, accompanied her to Srinagar,” said an official to The Hindu.

Suddenly, Shaikh transformed from a treacherous terrorist to a pining lover. Again, no media organisation asked questions about who the lover was or why there was such a sudden and drastic change in narrative.

The same article also said that a few days after reaching Srinagar, when Shaikh and her mother were in an auto in Budgam, Shaikh jumped out from the vehicle. “Unable to trace her, her mother went to Banihal and took a train back to Pune,” said the report without quoting any individual who would confirm this.

Plots and subplots

This is not the first time though that Shaikh has found herself in the midst of a so-called terror plot.

In November 2015, the Pune Anti-Terrorism Squad had stated that they had successfully “de-radicalised” a 16-year-old girl who had wanted to join the ISIS.

Media houses of course did not waste any time. They ran breaking stories on Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, known to many in a “Jihadi chat room” as “Radical Gun”.

No report elaborated on what a “Jihadi chatroom” meant.  It was reported that after the interrogation, the ATS put her through a “de-radicalisation programme” with “Islamic clerks” who seemed to have completely ‘cured’ her.

Again, nobody asked what a de-radicalisation programme is? Who is qualified to do it? Are these programmes structured or standardised? The exact nature and extent of her ‘radicalisation’ was also not elaborated on.

Additional Director General of Police Atulchandra Kulkarni, chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, told Newslaundry, that she displayed “tendencies [of being radicalised]”. When we asked him what these “tendencies” were, he hung up after saying, “I cannot discuss this over the phone”.

Moulana Qari Idries who had been appointed by the ATS for Shaikh’s counselling told Newslaundry that he had met the girl only for two hours in 2015 at the ATS Pune office. “I didn’t even see her face. I wasn’t told her name or her address,” he said.

When we enquired what exactly a “de-radicalisation programme” entailed, he said “I only told her a little about Islam, asked her to read the Quran and follow a righteous path,” he said.

Sadia speaks

On Sunday, Sadiya Anwar Shaikh finally spoke.

She said she and her mother had gone to Kashmir in the first week of January to seek admission in a local nursing college. A few days after securing admission in a nursing institute in the state’s Pulwama district, her mother returned to Pune.

“On January 25, I was shocked to see local newspaper and television reports purportedly referring to me as some kind of ISIS (IS) human-bomb. I immediately approached the nearest police station and informed them of the reality of my visit to Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.

She also added that due to “wrong and biased media reports and campaign” against her, the college had abruptly cancelled her admission.

At the press conference, Anjum Inamdar, president of an NGO called Mulnivaasi Mulim Manch, announced that his organisation had decided to take care of all future education expenses of Shaikh.

When Newslaundry attempted to reach out to Sadiya Shaikh or her mother, we were directed to Inamdar.

“Sadiya and her family do not wish to speak to the media as they are depressed. You can ask me whatever you want,” he said.

Inamdar said he wanted to clear certain misconceptions that the media had constructed:

1) The parents did not contact the ATS, the ATS itself sought out Shaikh after noticing suspicious activity on her social media account in 2015.

2) Shaikh is not a school dropout. She completed her education “despite being constantly followed and questioned by the ATS”.

3) Shaikh was not in love with anyone, she went to Kashmir purely for education.

4) She has been successfully “de-radicalised” after counselling in 2015 and has never contacted any of “those people” on Facebook ever again.

When Newslaundry contacted Jammu and Kashmir IG Muneer Khan he confirmed Shaikh was not a terrorist or suicide bomber. “We only issued the notice on the basis of inputs from a sister organisation. It was our duty to do so,” he said.

A few reports had also quoted the IG as saying that the girl was “mentally unstable” and had gone to Kashmir for a boy. When Newslaundry asked Khan to clarify this statement, he said: “Haan, woh ladki faltu kisam ki baatein kar rahi thi, pagal jaisi. [Ya, the girl was saying absurd things, like a mad woman].” He had arrived at this conclusion without any medical confirmation of her mental state.

Regarding befriending a man in Kashmir, the IG responded by saying, “Not one madam, she had many guy friends on her Facebook but as soon as they would see her face they would run away…” When we asked him what he meant, he said: “Well, how can I comment on that?”

Inamdar also said “the girl doesn’t seem to be thinking properly”. When asked why, he said: “If she starts thinking of love or poetry she will go on and on,” he said.

Nevertheless, the Moulana who counselled her said he found no signs of “mental instability”. “When I spoke to her I found her to be a quiet and sharp girl. She was well educated. After I finished talking to her she told me she is sorry and will never repeat her mistake,” he said.

It’s still not clear what was the exact nature of the “threat” Shaikh posed to the country’s national security but it is baffling that news channels dubbed her a suicide bomber without the slightest of hesitation and on evidently flimsy grounds.

Stories of such nature are often based on handouts by intelligence organisations or the police or security forces. Even so, it wouldn’t hurt journalists to display a little scepticism and get at least the basic Five Ws and One H of the story before vomiting it out as “breaking news”.