Update October 13th 2020: The father of Insiya is convicted and sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison over his daughter’s kidnapping four years ago. His cousin, Imran S., was also convicted in absentia, and sentenced to four years behind bars for his role in the abduction, NU.nl reports.
Previous Updates
Update September 23rd 2020: The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded 9 years in prison against Shehzad H. for the abduction of his now 6-year-old daughter Insiya in 2016. The Dutch authorities were unable to bring Hemani to the Netherlands for his trial, so he was tried in absentia. Shehzad H. and Insiya are both in India, NU.nl reports.
Update January 20th 2020: Shehzad H. will be tried in absentia for the role he played in the abduction of his then 2-year-old daughter Insiya from her grandmother’s apartment in 2016. The same goes for his cousin Imran. This was revealed in a proforma hearing in Amsterdam. The father will be prosecuted for inciting and co-perpetrating the abduction of Insiya, and for taking the child from her parental authority, her mother. His cousin will be tried for co-perpetrating the abduction. Both men, as well as Insiya herself, are currently in India. (Source: De Telegraaf)
Update September 4th 2019: According to Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf, the father of Insiya Hemani, a toddler who was kidnapped from Amsterdam to India in 2016, has to pay her mother a penalty of ten thousand euros for every day he keeps their daughter with him, the court in The Hague ruled.
Update July 11th 2019: The court in Amsterdam sentenced six people to more than 4 years in prison for their involvement in the kidnapping of the toddler Insiya in 2016, according to Dutch news agency NOS.
Update May 16th 2019: The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has asked for a 4.5 year prison sentence for a woman and five men suspected of the violent abduction of Insiya, reports Dutch newspaper NRC. According to Dutch news agency ANP news, the Public Prosecution Service believes that the suspects “took matters into their own hands, purely for monetary gain.”
Update March 6th 2019: Insiya’s mother has won an important legal battle, reports Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The court in North-Holland, the Netherlands, has awarded her full custody over the toddler (now 5 years old), who was taken to India by her father Shehzad H.
Update October 23rd 2018: Willem V. (54), who was the getaway driver during the violent kidnapping of the then two-year-old Dutch toddler Insiya, declared in court that the girl’s father misled him, reports Dutch newspaper Het Parool. According to the man, he falsely thought that it would benefit the girl to be reunited with her father, Shehzad H.
On September 29th 2016, Willem V., together with three other men, went to the home of Insiya’s grandmother at the Watergraafsmeer in Amsterdam. The kidnapping, called Operation Barney, was prepared down to the last detail.
That same evening, V. heard a news report about the abduction and the AMBER Alert that was issued. “It shocked me. That AMBER Alert shook me awake. The police do not just issue an AMBER Alert. My god, what have I done? I have let myself be lured, did not research the father’s story and blindly believed that it was in the best interest of the child. I thought: I must report myself.”
Also retired police officer Erik S. (60), who is presumed to be the ‘executor’ of the kidnapping, didn’t realise what he had done until he saw the AMBER Alert.
Update May 24th 2018: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has discussed the abduction case of 4-year-old Dutch toddler Insiya with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to De Telegraaf. Rutte’s spokesperson says the Prime Minister does not want to go into detail regarding the conversation.
Update May 22nd 2018: Prime Minister Mark Rutte will discuss the fate of kidnapped Amsterdam girl Insiya at ‘high level’ during his visit to India, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports.
“This sad issue has a lot of people busy. I am very aware of this case and I’m also taking it with me during my visit to India”, Rutte said. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is constantly in contact with the Indian authorities about the 4-year-old girl. “I sincerely hope that contact is again established between mother and daughter. That’s best for everyone, though I cannot guarantee that it will work out.”
Update May 11th 2018: Insiya’s mother has made a dramatic appeal to Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, according to Dutch newspaper The Telegraaf. In an open letter and a video message to Máxima, mother Nadia Rashid points out to the queen that her daughter Insiya is alone on Mother’s Day for the second consecutive year. “I cannot ask you to return my daughter to me, but I want to ask you for your support,” said Rashid.
Queen Máxima says she sympathizes with the desperate mother. “It is terrible – especially on Mother’s Day – when a mother and her child cannot be together against their will, this kind of grief is unbearable”, states Máxima. Insiya was forcibly kidnapped from her grandmother’s house in Amsterdam on September 29th, 2016. Since then, the now four-year-old toddler is staying with her father in India.
Update April 13th 2018: For the time being, the kidnapped toddler Insiya (4) can stay with her father in India. According to a court of appeal in India, it must first be determined who has custody over the girl before a decision can be made about a possible return to the Netherlands. Previously, an Indian court had decided that Insiya should return to her mother in the Netherlands by the end of March, writes Dutch newspaper Het Parool.
Update April 5th 2018: The last two suspects in the abduction of the Dutch toddler Insiya are released from custody. A court in Amsterdam ruled that Robert B. and Daniel C., both American, can await their trial in freedom in the United States, writes Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.
Update March 26th 2018: The kidnapped toddler Insiya, who was supposed to be returned to her Dutch mother on March 27th, is still in India. Insiya’s father, Shehzad H., appealed the ruling of an Indian court that stated that Insiya should be returned to her mother in the Netherlands, writes Dutch newspaper het Parool. According to Nadia Rashid, Insiya’s mother, the father is trying to delay the process. Rashid is not able to go to India herself to retrieve her child, because an arrest warrant has been issued against her. The father reported her to the Indian authorities for kidnapping. “In the past, Nadia traveled to the Netherlands with Insiya from Dubai,” says Rashid’s lawyer. “With written permission of the father.”
Update February 27th 2018: The Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands does not accept Interpol’s decision to withdraw the international arrest warrant against Insiya’s father, Shehzad H., writes Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “We do not agree with the removal and will strive to reactivate the arrest warrant”, the Public Prosecutor’s Office states in a press release. The statement was issued after the father’s attorney claimed that Interpol, the international police organisation, considers Insiya’s abduction a “private family matter”. For that reason, Interpol has withdrawn the arrest warrant against Shehzad H.
Update February 16th 2018: A judge in the Netherlands ruled that the three-year-old Insiya, who was taken from Amsterdam to India by her father, does not have to immediately return home. The Supreme Court in The Hague annulled the ruling of another judge, who stated that Insiya must be brought back to her mother in the Netherlands before March 27th. According to the Supreme Court, it is up to the Indian judiciary to make that decision, writes Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.
Update January 30th 2018: Three-year-old Insiya must return to the Netherlands. Her return was ordered by an Indian court yesterday. Insiya’s father, who is said to be behind the violent abduction of his daughter from Amsterdam to India on September 29th 2016, will have to bring his daughter back to her Dutch mother before March 27th, writes Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Update January 12th 2018: In 2016, the now three-year-old Insiya was forcibly kidnapped to India. Although there have been negotiations between the Dutch and Indian government to bring the girl back to the Netherlands, the case is deadlocked. However, the pressure on India has increased, after the court in The Hague formally established that the toddler was kidnapped. “In December, the judge also ruled that Insiya was held in India illegally,” says Insiya’s mother, Nadia Rashid. Insiya’s father, Shehzad H., who is presumed to be behind the abduction, was also ordered by the court to bring the girl back. In a direct appeal to the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Rashid is asking the government in India (Mumbai) for help in returning her kidnapped daughter to her. AMBER Alert Netherlands in turn has received direct threats from Shehzad H. to remove any communication regarding the case from its website.
Read the full story from the moment of abduction until now:
Update September 29th 2017: On this day last year, Dutch toddler Insiya Hemani was kidnapped and taken to India. Despite numerous efforts of the Dutch government to reunite the girl with her mother, the case is completely log-jammed, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Most of the suspects are in custody, but her father, presumed to be the mastermind behind the abduction, is said to still be hiding the child in a house in India. Insiya’s mother, Nadia Rashid, has released an emotional appeal to the public. She hopes the video will remind the public once again of the abuction, bringing her one step closer to being reunited with her daughter.
Update July 13th 2017: The Public Prosecutor wants to charge Insiya’s father, who is believed to be behind his daughter’s abduction, if he fails to show up in court, according to Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. The chances that Shehzad H. will actually make an appearance are slim to none as India refuses to extradite the man.
Update May 8th 2017: Dutch Minister Koenders is going to India to personally discuss the abduction case of the 3-year old Insiya with the Indian authorities. The girl was abducted last September. Insiya’s father, Shehzad H., is presumed to be have orchestrated the abduction.
Update March 29th 2017: The Dutch Public Prosecutor filed a legal request with India asking the country to extradite Shehzad H. to the Netherlands, the prosecutor revealed in court on Wednesday. The Prosecutor believes Shehzad H. is responsible for the kidnapping of his 2-year-old daughter Insiya in Amsterdam last year.
The Prosecutor also wants to question two suspects in Iraq and the United States, AD reports. India is considering the request for extradition, the Prosecutor is still waiting for a response.
Update February 28th 2017: Insiya’s mother, Nadia Rashid, has started a petition to get her daughter back to the Netherlands as soon as possible. “It is awful. It has been hell”, says Rashid. “It hits you every day that she is not here. You look at her pictures, watch video clips of her. You miss her little hands, that she runs up to you in the morning. And yet, you still hope that at some point you catch a glimpse of your child. But that is not the case.”
With the petition, Rashid hopes to push the Dutch and Indian government to come to a resolution and bring Insiya back home. The petition has already gathered over 11.000 signatures.
Update February 27th 2017: The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hoping for a quick solution in the abduction case of Insiya from Amsterdam. The ministry is mediating between both parents to get the girl back to the Netherlands. A spokesperson of the Ministry: “We are in contact with the mother almost daily and there is regular contact with the father. We are making small steps towards a resolution”.
Update February 27th 2017: The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that, once again, one of the abductors of the 2.5-year old Insiya has been arrested at the airport in Teheran, Iran. The arrest is an important development in the investigation of the Dutch police. Last week Daniel C., suspected of having prepared the abduction, was already arrested in the United States.
Update January 12th, 2017: The Dutch news broadcaster AT5 reports that the abduction of the 2-year old Insiya Hemani has been well prepared for eight months. On the computer of one of the suspects a plan was found. The plan reveals that the use of violence wasn’t an issue for the abuctors.
“I will continue. I won’t stop until Insiya is back in the Netherlands,” says Insiya’s mother (Dutch video, AT5)
Update December 27th, 2016: Three months ago, Insiya (2) was kidnapped. Since then, her mother Nadia Rashid, has faced some tough times. Not having Insiya around is especially hard around Christmas time, reports Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “Last year everything was different”, Rashid reminisces. “Insiya really liked Christmas, she couldn’t stop staring at the tree. Now, I know nothing about her. I only hear stories of neighbours in Mumbai, who live in the apartment building where my daughter is being held. They say they occasionally hear Insiya crying heartrendingly. That’s all I know.” (De Telegraaf)
RTL Boulevard also reported on the case. Watch the video (Dutch).
Update Nov 12th: The father of the kidnapped toddler Insiya, Shehzad H., reportedly refuses to reunite his 2-year-old daughter with her mother, reports De Telegraaf. Shehzad H. informed the mother’s lawyer through his attorney Gerard Spong. India has not contacted the Amsterdam police to cooperate in the arrest of the father or bringing back Insiya to the Netherlands (De Telegraaf)
Update Oct 28th: The abducted Insiya is said to be held in an apartment in Mumbai, India, by her father. A crime reporter of the Dutch news paper Telegraaf, spoke to witnesses who confirm that they have seen and heard the two-year old girl in the apartment of her grandmother.
Update Oct 21st: German media like Focus, Stern, DPA, Hamburger Morgenpost, News Deutschland, cover the abduction of Insiya. In addition to the attention of German media, information about Insiya is also displayed in Germany on big screens in bus- and train stations.
Oct 19th – 15:28: Information about Insiya is now displayed in Germany via big screens on bus- and train stations. The information was disseminated in cooperation with NGO Initiative Vermisste Kinder, the German member of AMBER Alert Europe.
Oct 19th – 11.56: The Dutch police has arrested two more persons that are believed to be involved in the abduction of the two-year old Insiya Hemani. One of the suspects has been arrested in Germany. The police have also searched a house in Germany. Both suspects have the Dutch nationality.
Oct 18th – 18:38: “We suspect that the child might be in Germany. Because of the investigation process we can not provide more information at this stage. Germany is extremely large, but we think it is very important to find her. We hope everyone will be on the lookout, also in Germany”, says a spokeswoman of the Dutch police (Hart van Nederland).
Oct 18th 15:39: According to the Dutch Police there are indications that the abducted 2.5-year old Insiya Hemani might be in Germany. On September 29th, a Dutch AMBER Alert was issued for Insiya. The girl is still missing.
The police responsible for the investigation of the abducted toddler expects the child won’t be in Germany for a long period of time. It is unknown if she is accompanied by her father or by someone else. Therefore the Dutch police urges the public to stay on the lookout for the girl. If you have any information about this case, please contact: 0800 6070 (the Netherlands) or +31 79 345 9876 (from outside the Netherlands).
Oct 11th: The mother of the abducted 2.5-year old Insiya Hemani has posted an emotional Facebook message saying she is extremely thankful to all who joined the search for her daughter. “Every second without Insiya is unbearable”.
I am extremely thankful to all who are helping to find her and also to those who have been sharing these messages”, says Insiya’s mother. The Dutch police issued an AMBER Alert for the toddler on Thursday, September 29th. The AMBER Alert reached 11 million Dutch citizens. The alert was also disseminated by AMBER Alert Europe. The AMBER Alert has been cancelled, Insiya is still missing. Knowing that there are so many people on the lookout for Inisya, gives Inisya’s mother hope: “All your support and messages give me hope and assure me that I am not alone in this search. Therefore I request you to keep sharing this post, also in Europe, India and the rest of the world… Help me find my daughter.”
Oct 4th: The AMBER Alert reached 11 million Dutch citizens. The AMBER Alert was disseminated via social media, gas stations, public transport and and popular mobile apps. The AMBER Alert was also disseminated via AMBER Alert Europe’s Police Expert Network.
Oct 4th: A second suspect has been arrested. The police suspects the man is involved in the abduction of the 2.5-year old Insiya. The Police is still searching for the third abductor and the father of the child.
Sep 29th: One of the abducters has been arrested after a local resident captured him.
Sep 29th: The Dutch AMBER which was issued today for the 2.5-year old Insiya Hemani from Amsterdam has been cancelled. The girl is still missing.
The Dutch police suspects the girl, who was abducted, has been taken abroad and is now in the company of her father, Shehzad H.. The AMBER Alert has reached 10.850.031 Dutch citizens. Thank you all for being on the lookout!
For more information, please see: https://www.politie.nl/gezocht-en-vermist/vermiste-kinderen/2016/september/insiya-hemani.html. If you have any information about this case, please contact: 0800 6070 (the Netherlands) or +31 79 345 9876 (from outside the Netherlands).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
