Free & in need of a job

Abdul Wahid Din Mohammad Shaikh, the only person to be acquitted in the July 11, 2006, serial blasts case, quickly moved an application before the special court on Friday asking for direction to Anjuman Ismail school where he had been teaching before his arrest to take him back as professor. The court rejected his plea and said it does not have jurisdiction.

Shaikh’s 35-year-old wife is relieved that her husband is finally out of jail. “But, while I am happy my husband is acquitted, I did not think that the others would get convicted,” she said, not willing to give her name.

“I still remember the night when a police team came to our house and picked up my husband saying it was for routine work, and he would be dropped back soon,” she said.

She said her husband was illegally detained for a week and beaten up by the investigating officers after which he was made to sign on a blank paper. “The paper was then made into a confession,” she said.

“For the past nine years I have been working as a teacher to take care of my children. They kept asking me why their father had been put behind bars. One day I told them,” she said.

According to the prosecution’s case, Shaikh had given shelter to the accused who were alleged to be the key conspirators in the blast. Shaikh is also the brother-in-law of one of the convicted accused Sajid Ansari. The prosecution alleged he was a member of the banned organisation SIMI and distributed their literature.

Wahid’s advocate Prakash Shetty said, “His acquittal is completely justified. However, great injustice has been done to him by putting him in jail for nine years. He lost his job and his life is ruined.”