Kashmir Man Acquitted Of Terror Charges After 11 Years

Srinagar: The Additional Sessions Judge of Anand District Court acquitted a Kashmiri man arrested on terror charges after he was found innocent. However, it took 11 years for the man to prove his innocence before he was released on Thursday.

Bashir Ahmad is one of several in the country who has been behind the bars for years on charges that the court could not substantiate. The responsibility of proving their innocence rests with the victims in all these cases.

“The process of trial was so slow that it took 11 years to decide that I was innocent and release me,” Bashir Ahmad was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Computer professional Bashir Ahmed Baba, then a 32-year-old, went to Gujarat for a course on caring for cancer patients. But Bashir was arrested and charged with tough terror law UAPA at Anand in March 2010.

The Kashmiri man was accused of establishing a terror module and hiring Muslim men angry over the Gujarat riots in 2002. There were allegations against him of being in touch with a Hizbul Mujahideen commander in Pakistan over phone and email.

However, the court said the prosecution failed to prove the charges in the absence of enough evidence and acquitted him on June 19.

“It is such a moment, which I can’t forget in my life. I was the eldest son of my father, not been able to attend his funeral was painful,” he said.

“His father and uncle died during this time. We visited him in jail only once because we couldn’t afford second visit to Gujarat,” his mother Mokhta Begum was quoted as saying by NDTV.

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