All nine youth detained by the Delhi police for alleged involvement with a terror outfit will be sent to a de-radicalisation programme, the police revealed on Friday.
The nine men were detained on Wednesday along with three highly radicalised men arrested for their alleged link with the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. The 12 men had made a group and were allegedly in touch with the JeM members.
“We have launched a campaign to help de-radicalise youth who have fallen prey to ideology of the terror outfit because of three arrested persons, suspected to be sympathisers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. All of the youth will be sent various NGOs which are helping out the police in the de-radicalisation campaign,” said a senior police officer.
These NGOs, which have not been identified by the police, will seek help of Islamic clerics and scholars to de-radicalise youth who were targeted by the three arrested men. Sajid Ahmed, a resident of Chand Bagh, who was injured while preparing an improvised explosive device, is considered by the police to be the most “radicalised” person among all of them. The de-radicalisation programme will focus on the men considered to hold “radical” views that separate them from other persons in the society.
“Youths sent for the de-radicalisation programme go through an intensive programme where they learn general knowledge. They also take workshops held by speakers, including victims of terrorism, political commentators and psychologists. It is a way to reconnect youth to the mainstream society. It is a kind of rehabilitation programme,” said a member of one of the NGOs.
The police said that it would keep monitoring activities of youth.
“The main accused Sajid is a teenager and he was found radicalised by the ideology of JeM, a terror outfit, that his confessions left investigators perplexed,” said an investigator.
