By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Incarceration of Muslim youths in fabricated terror cases is becoming more dangerous than communal riots, Maulana Arshad Madani, the Jamiat e Ulama Hind chief, said here on Friday.
“Thousands of youths are languishing in different jails across the country for years, some for as long as 20 years. Some officials and agencies are spoiling the lives of thousands of Muslim youths by falsely incarcerating them in terror cases,” Maulana Madani said after releasing a book by Mufti Abdul Qayyum Ahmed, one of the six persons who was acquitted by the Apex Court on May 16, 2014 after spending 11 years behind bars in the 2002 Akshardham terror case.
Demanding the Centre and respective state governments to take stern actions against such officials and agencies, he also urged the government to provide adequate compensation to those acquitted by courts after spending years in jail.
Mufti Qayyum has penned down the tribulations he went through in those 11 years, titled 11 Years Behind the Bars, on top of which is mentioned, “I am Mufti and I am not a terrorist.” The book was originally supposed to be released on April 16, 2015 in Ahmedabad, but the programme was abruptly stopped by the state administration. “Perhaps they (state government and police) were apprehensive that their wrong doings would be exposed and hence they did not allow the release of the book,” Maulana Madani added.
The Jamiat e Ulama Hind has provided financial and legal assistance in such case and the organization is now also helping them fight the legal battle not only for adequate compensation but also persecution of the police officials involved in the cases.
He said that he is happy that the Apex Court reinstated the faith in judiciary, but there seems to be something fishy (daal me kaala) in the lower courts at the way terror cases are handled. He urged that state must see to it that merely because of his religion, someone does not have to go through the tyranny.
Mufti Qayyum reminded that he was virtually “kidnapped” on August 17, 2003 by three cops from Ahmedabad Crime Branch – incidentally all three of them were Muslim. Since then the torture and tyranny continued from forcing them to make false confessional statements to the mental agony. He said that he was not given even an hour of parole when his father died. Both he and his wife outside contemplated suicide several times. “Faith in the Almighty Allah and hope of coming out clean from the judiciary,” he said, is what kept him alive and added that the Apex Court has reinstated his faith in judiciary.
He added that when the defense had raised this question as to why the letter apparently found in the pocket of terrorists killed at Akshardham – allegedly written by him – did not have a drop of blood on it, the Gujarat HC had noted that sometimes “truth is stranger than fiction.”
“The police tortured and forced me to write the letters … for matching the handwriting,” he added.
He reminded that he used to run relief camps for 2002 Gujarat riot victims and initially he was called to enquire about that. He said that he will continue to fight for justice to see that the erring police officials are persecuted so that no other youth is again falsely implicated.
Both Mufti Qayyum and Maulana Madnai obliquely criticised the biased reporting in some section of the media when it comes to terror cases.
Maulana Gulzar Azmi, who heads the Legal Aid Committee of Jamiat Ulama Maharashtra and is also the member of the state’s Minority Commission, played instrumental role in fighting terror cases. He said that at the moment JUH is fighting nine cases in SC alone and is associated in some form or other with about 450 cases across the country.
Elabroting further he said that because JUH help, 54 persons have so far been acquitted, including two Hindu who were sentenced to death; while 22 other persons are out on bail.
The Special POTA Court had found them guilty and convicted them with: Altaf Malek (5 years imprisonment), Adam Bhai Ajmeri (death penalty), Mohammed Salim Hanif Sheikh (Life imprisonment till death), Abdul Qaiyum Muftisaab Mohmed Bhai (death penalty), Abdullah Miya Yasin Miya (10 years imprisonment) and Chand Khan (death penalty).
The six accused in the 2002 Akshardham case were all pronounced guilty not only by the special POTA court but the conviction was also upheld by the Gujarat High Court. On May 16, 2014, the Apex Court, however, not only acquitted all of the accused persons but also came down heavily on the state administration, investigating agency, and the trial court.
The Apex Court had noted, “Before parting with the judgment, we intend to express our anguish about the incompetence with which the investigating agencies conducted the investigation of the case of such a grievous nature, involving the integrity and security of the nation. Instead of booking the real culprits responsible for taking so many precious lives, the police caught innocent people and got imposed the grievous charges against them which resulted in their conviction and subsequent sentencing.”
The honorable SC bench of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice V Gopala Gowda had observed, “The courts below (Special POTA court and Gujarat HC) mechanically and without applying their mind” had discarded the contention of the learned counsel on behalf of the accused persons.
Set up panel to review terror cases, cleric urges Modi
Maulana Madni also urged the Narendra Modi government to set up a high-level committee of jurists and legal luminaries to investigate and probe all terror-related cases as hundreds of youth are languishing in various jails in these cases without trial.
Praising the country’s judiciary, he said that it was because of its intervention that over 50 Muslim youth were absolved of terror charges in many cases like Malegaon, Akshardham, the Hiren Pandya assassination and US Consulate attack.
(With inputs from IANS)
Related:
‘POTA Court and Gujarat HC worked with pre-conceived mind,’ says lawyer in Akshardham case