The girl is in the custody of San Bernardino County Child Protective Services, blissfully unaware of the carnage and misery wrought by her parents, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. (File Photo)
The six-month-old daughter of the Pakistani woman and her Pakistani American husband who massacred 14 people in California last week is at the centre of a custody battle between their relatives and the state.
The girl is in the custody of San Bernardino County Child Protective Services, blissfully unaware of the carnage and misery wrought by her parents, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, last Wednesday.
Saira Khan, Farook's older sister, and her husband, Farhan Khan, are seeking to adopt the baby girl. The couple already have two children of their own.
Experts have predicted the baby will not be raised by blood relatives but her aunt and uncle have moved to gain custody at a Family Court hearing on Monday, Fox News reported.
The next hearing is set for January, and the baby likely will be placed with a foster family until then. Council on American Islamic Relations attorney Fatima Dadabhy, who represented the family, said its priority is to ensure the baby is placed with a Muslim foster family.
The Monday hearing was closed to the public, San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert was quoted as saying.
He said the county is "unable to confirm or deny the existence of a dependency proceeding or whether we are providing services to a particular child."
The radical Muslim couple reportedly left the girl at their home with Farook's mother, Rafia Farook, telling her they were headed to a doctor's appointment.
Instead, they drove a rented SUV to the Inland Regional Center, a state social services facility in nearby San Bernardino, where Farook's co-workers were having a holiday party. Dressed in tactical gear and toting assault rifles, they stormed the building and gunned down his co-workers.
Months earlier, Farook's colleagues had held a baby shower for the young couple.
In the days following the attack, Farook's sister Saira and her husband Farhan expressed horror and shock at his actions.
Farook and Saira 's mother, Rafia, who appeared in Family Court with Saira, has not spoken to the press but reportedly told authorities that despite living in the home with her son, daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter had no idea of the couple's radical orientation or murderous intentions. Farhan Khan was quoted as saying that the baby was not released to the family on Monday.