Behind the 7/11 acquittals, a legal cell which worked quietly and tirelessly for 19 years

The Hindu

9 hours ago

At late Shahid Azmi's behest, the cell which started giving legal aid to Muslims, represented select accused in several key terror cases, including the Akshardham attack, Malegaon 2006 blasts, Godhra railway burning, and Mumbai triple blasts, now sees one of its biggest victories.
Tucked away in the narrow bylanes of Mumbai's crowded Bhendi Bazar Dongri area is the office of Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra, the State chapter of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. 'Madam, take a right opposite the Saboo Siddique hospital. In the first lane, leave the first iron gate and enter from the second one,' a shopkeeper tells me as I try to find my way through the maze amid the rush and the slush during the Mumbai outpour.
Inside the 700 square feet office of one of the oldest Muslim organisations of India, established over a century ago, is the legal cell. This small room has provided hope, courage and justice to scores of Muslim men who have allegedly been wrongly arrested in false cases. And one of their biggest victories came this week when the Bombay High Court acquitted 12 accused in the 11 July, 2006, serial bomb blasts in Mumbai which had killed 187 people and injured over 800.
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The prosecution 'utterly failed' to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Bombay High Court observed, setting aside the 2015 judgment of the Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, which had awarded death penalty to five and life imprisonment to seven others. Pending hearing, the judgement has since been stayed by the apex court, so it is not used as a precedence in other MCOCA cases, even as it will have no bearing on the acquittal of the 12 accused. Yet, six of those acquitted have already written to the Jamiat, seeking legal help for further hearings in the apex court, after notices are issued.
Also read: Death sentence was for taking the last step: MCOCA court
'We aren't celebrating. We are relieved that there is justice for those who were wrongly implicated in this case. But there is no justice for the victims as yet. We still don't know who committed this heinous crime,' Shahid Nadeem, legal advisor, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind legal cell, says. Sitting amid a printer-copier machine, a wooden cupboard, his work table is full of files and folders with legal documents and petitions. A CCTV camera perched behind him monitors the small cabin.
The legal cell provides free legal aid to approximately 500 Muslim men, including those accused in terror cases and booked under the stringent POTA (now repealed), MCOCA and UAPA. They have so far secured acquittals of some accused in the Akshardham temple attack case, in Malegaon 2006 blasts case, in the 7/11 serial train blasts case, among other cases. In 75 cases across the country so far, Jamaiat's legal cell has been able to secure the release of 318 accused in the last 19 years. 'So far, 227 accused have got bail in 52 cases across India,' says Nadeem.
Shahid Azmi's role
The cell started providing legal aid to Muslims after Shahid Azmi, a lawyer and human rights activist who was murdered in 2010, indicated to the Jamiat that innocent Muslim men were being implicated in the 2006 train blasts case. 'We had a legal cell before that. But that was functional primarily after independence when there were custodian issues about properties after the partition. Maulana Hizdur Rehman Seohari, who was also a parliamentarian, had taken lead in it. Jamiat was established in the year 1919, and during its participation in the freedom struggle movement, it had opposed the two-nation theory, partition of the country on religious basis. After independence, the organisation decided to withdraw from electoral politics and focus on social service instead.
'In 2006, there was terror atmosphere in the country. At that time, Hazrat Maulana Arshad Madani, who is currently the Jamiat Ulema president, told the Maharashtra unit that we should help those innocent Muslims who are poor, who can't afford judicial expenses,' says Maulana Haleem Ullah Qasmi, General Secretary of the Maharashtra wing of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.
'This was the first case which came to us. Shahid Azmi told us that those who were arrested were daily wage labourers, and should be helped. We first went to the Supreme Court which sent us back to the trial court,' he adds.
Selection process
The Jamiat does not provide everyone who approaches them. 'We verify their antecedents first, and provide legal aid only if our verification process shows that the person is wrongfully arrested, and is in need of help,' says Nadeem. 'When someone comes to us, we take an application from them. That is how this case (7/11 train blasts) came to us,' says Maulana Maulana Haleem Ullah Qasmi.
'The selection process is quite stringent. When someone applies for legal aid, we read their charge sheet, and we confirm their background and whether they are history sheeters. That's why we don't provide legal aid to everyone who approaches us,' says Nadeem.
Systemic accountability
After the Bombay High Court verdict, the legal cell representatives call for the accountability of the system. 'In this case, from the beginning, the agencies have been errant. Their wrong deeds have come out now. These agencies should be made accountable. The real culprits should be arrested. Instead of working hard to do that, the government has now appealed in the Supreme Court,' says Maulana Qasmi.
Raising the issue of justice for the family members of the victims, he says, 'Somone must have committed this dasdardly attack. The victims should get justice too. Agencies should enquire again and bring the real culprits to book. This case is incomplete without that. Justice is not yet served. The innocents were nabbed. We shudder at the pain of the victims. The accused should be arrested and brought to book. Justive will be served only then,' he says.