Insha Mushtaq
Today the decade-long struggle of the Baba Family in Rainawara has paid dividends, with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, an old mother looks at her son, who returned home after more than 11 years.
Bashir Ahmed Baba, from Rainawari who was arrested in Gujarat for allegedly being a member of Hizbul Mujahideen, was acquitted today after more than 11 years.
Bashir like any youthful man after completing his had completed his Masters in Urdu from Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2009 and then qualified for a 15-day training program in Gujrat Ahmedabad in March 2010 by Maya Foundation- a German NGO running a project for surgical treatment of cleft lip in children in rural areas.
On 14th March 2010, Bashir Ahmed Baba was arrested by the ‘Anti-Terrorist Squad’ of Gujarat claiming that he was associated with a militant outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen. The ‘Anti-Terrorist Squad’ had alleged that Bashir Ahmed Baba’s purpose to visit Gujarat was to set up a network to send the youth to Pakistan for arms training.
Bashir, dreaming of a good life, a career was booked under an FIR under section 120 (B) of IPC, and sections 16, 17, 18, 20 of the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2010.
“He is not a militant; he was working as a camp coordinator with Kimaya Cleft Centre associated with the NGO Maya Foundation. He was sent by the NGO for 15 days of training related to his work to one of its centers in Gujarat for which he left home on February 17, 2010,” his brother Nazir Ahmed had said.
He had been in touch with his family till early march and then suddenly the family lost contact with him. “It was a Sunday, there was news on TV about his arrest,” his brother had told the media. Bashir’s family who ran from pillar to post to seek justice for him had been claiming all the while that he was innocent and being implicated in false case, however, the Police maintained that he was a Militant associate.
Despite him being lodged thousands of miles away from home, and facing immense problems to travel, the family did not give up hope of seeing their child out of the jail. “If we visited him in the jail, they would hardly get 15 minutes to meet him,” a family member said.
The sessions court in Gujarat cleared Bashir Ahmed Baba (43) of the charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and ordered his release. Pronouncing his innocence and acquittal, the prosecution “relied on emotional argument and a person cannot be held guilty merely on its fear of anarchy.”
The Additional sessions judge S A Nakum rejected the Anti-Terrorism Squad’s case that Baba was associated with Militants. “No evidence was found that he was in touch with terrorist elements through electronic gadgets,” the Judge said.
A Long Road to Justice
In July 2019, Twelve persons were accused in the Samleti case, seven have been acquitted so far. While one, Engineer Farooq Ahmed Khan was acquitted in 2014, six were acquitted on Tuesday. However, the sixth person, Javed Khan, who is in Tihar Jail, is still an accused in the Lajpat Nagar blast case, one of them was Abdul Gani Goni of Doda District of Chenab valley
A resident of Pasri Mohallah in the Chenab Valley’s Doda, Goni says that when he reached Pasri Mohalla, he could not recognize anything. “The streets looked new, i had to ask people for the address to my home, everything has changed in the last 25 years,” Goni said while speaking to The Kashmiriyat.
The Judicial process is so slow that Goni had to spend most of his youth in Jail. “My entire life has been wasted inside the dark dungeons, while inside the jail, i have lost my Father, my mother, my uncles, i really am doubtful if there is anything i have returned to.” Goni had told The Kashmiriyat.
This time, in jail, has been painful, i got the news of my father passing away, a month after he had passed away, Goni told The Kashmiriyat. “Here it looks so strange, the kids at home look at me like a stranger, Yes i have been acquitted, but who will bring back those years,” asks Goni.
Goni who ran a private school in Doda had gone with the Tableeghi Jama’at when he was having tea at a Shop in Gujrat and tortured constantly for 40 days and to escape the torture he had confessed the crime, he never committed. “The Family came to know of his arrest three months after his arrest, none of the people who accompanied Goni on Tableegh told us of the arrest,” one of his relatives told The Kashmiriyat.
“It was tough for me to find the home, where i was born, the kids on the street gazed at me, I might always be a stranger to them, somebody whom they never saw, will the society, the Government accept us as innocent. Will they be able to return every second i have spent in the Jail?” Goni asked.
“Will they be able to return the prime of my youth? No, they will never be able to return my mother, my father, or two uncles to me” Goni said while speaking to The Kashmiriyat.