This special TCN series highlights some of the example cases of people accused of terrorism and their struggle for justice. This series is sponsored by Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).
By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net
Hyderabad: ‘8-10 police officers invaded our house at midnight, started searching without caring about the womenfolk, when they didn’t fiund Hashim they took my husband, my three sons including a 13-year old into custody as a surety for Hashim, they told us Hashim is wanted in bomb blast cases’ said shy Syeda Mujeeba Begum sipping a cup of tea sitting in her kitchen which acts also as her drawing room recalls the night in August 2000 when Task Force came looking for his eldest son Sheikh Hashim Ali.
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A photograph of Sheikh Hashim Ali.
A videographer by profession Hashim Ali when witnessed arrests of his close friends in the neighborhood, escaped to Mumbai. Police officers assured Hashim’s family that he will be let off after questioning, family persuaded Hashim Ali and made him surrender on 4th of August, ‘Investigating officer told us my brother will be freed after three days,’ said Sajjida Siddiqua younger sister of Hashim, little did she know at that time that it won’t be 3 days but will be more than 13 years and still no sight of his brother returning home.
Family said though Hashim surrendered on 4th August 2000, police kept him under 11 days of illegal detention and tortured using third degree methods, than he was presented before the media along with explosives ‘recovered’ from him, claiming that he was caught at Emillybun bus stand while he was trying to escape from Hyderabad.
13 bomb blasts
Like his arrest the case in which Hashim was prosecuted was even more obscure. In the year 2000 from 21st May to 9th July a series of minor gelatin stick blasts occured in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa. In a span of just 50 days 12 churches and one mosque became the target. The gelatin blasts were so minor in nature that even 13 blasts in three different states could not injure more than three persons, but those minor blasts created fear, panic and sense of insecurity in those states. Those were the times when terrorism was still not a mainstream issue, and it was hard to describe it in cliché terms.
As the religious places of minorities was target, police initially suspected right-wing Hindutva groups, but soon settled down with Muslims when there was a mysterious blast in a car in the Vijaywada highway in which three people died and one got serious injuries, all of them belonged to Deendar Anjuman a socio-religious Muslim organization, police immediately alleged that people who died in that car blast were the bomb-makers who were behind all those blasts in churches and Deendar came onto the radar. With that mysterious car blast (which family of the deceased still claim was due to engine exhaustion) the security agencies got big ‘break through’ in the church blast cases. The lone survivor of that car blast S.M. Ibrahim allegedly gave a ‘confessional statement’ in the police custody of unleashing terror strikes in the churches.
Basing on his confessional statement 52 persons belonging to Deendar Anjuman was arrested by the police from A.P, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Deendar Anjuman and all its activities were subsequently banned in 2001 under Section 3 of the Un-Lawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Than Union Home Minister L K Advani declared in Parliament that government have ‘concrete proof’ of organization relations with ISI, subsequently Prime Minister of the time Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Pope John Paul II and assured him thorough action against the perpetrators of blasts in churches.
The A.P. TADA court trail
Asif Nagar, a Muslim ghetto from Deendar Anjuman in Hyderabad was virtually seized by the police; nearly 30 individuals including Hashim Ali and many of his friends were arrested. Hashim Ali along with 52 other individuals faced trail in A.P TADA court under Section 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 121 (waging war against the nation), Section 121A (conspiracy to wage war), Section 124A (sedition), Section 153A (provocation to cause riot), and Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), along with the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act.
In November 2004 TADA court gave its judgment where 31 Muslim youths were acquitted and 21 got 4-year imprisonment getting convicted in sec 120B for possessing a book called Imam-ul-Jihad written by Maulana Deendar Siddiqui founder of Anjuman in 1936, but all of them were let off as they had already spent 4 years in prison. Hashim Ali family’s hope of his release was shattered as just one month after TADA court’s judgment he along with 23 others was shifted to Karnataka prison to face trail in similar blast cases in that state.
The shocking Judgment of Karnataka sessions court
Hashim Ali spent another four years in Karnataka prison waiting for the next judgment, counting days hoping same judgement as AP TADA Court as charges were almost the same. But to his and other 22 accused utter shock, for the blasts where only three people received minor injuries, in Nov 2008 Karnataka Sessions Court awarded death sentence to 11 Muslim youths for 2 counts and life sentence to 12 other youths for 10 counts, it was the same set of cases from which previously A.P. TADA court scrapped off the terror charges.
Hashim Ali alone was bestowed with 2 death and 8 life sentences, while jingoistic Indian media and society welcomed it as a though call on terrorism, family of Hashim Ali was left devastated, they weren’t able to grasp how their son who was cleared of all terror charges in TADA court ended up getting death sentence for same set of charges in Karnataka Sessions Court.
Earlier TwoCircles.net spoke with Mr. Hashmat Pasha Advocate who is representing those 23 Muslim youths including Hashim Ali in the Karnataka high court for appealing against those excessive session court sentences. He said, “Trial court of Karnataka was seriously wrong in their judgment as there is no proofs against my clients except the testimony and police confessional statement of one survivor of the car blast that is not at all enough to award life sentence let alone death sentence.” He even raised a serious legal point “My clients were already tried in A.P trail court for the same offence and got 4 years imprisonment only for possessing allegedly inflammatory material, now they cannot be retried again for the same offences in the different trail court, it is against natural justice."
The police harassment and financial difficulties for family
Hashim Ali’s sister Ms. Sajjida said the harassment of police which began on their family after the arrest of his brother in 2000 is still continuing even after 13 years, she said her three younger brothers were frequently harassed by the police, one of her brother was illegally detained after murder of a priest in the city, later involvement of right wing Hindutva groups were found, Sajjida narrated how her youngest brother was once taken by the police blindfolded from the house and threaten with encounter.
Mother Mujeeba begum narrated financial difficulties her family members are facing after his eldest son’s arrest, Hashim Ali’s mother said at the time of his arrest Hashim was the only bread earner of the family, her family use to own a car and had a thriving video recording business which was brought down to ruins after his arrest and now family is forced to live in a rented two room house.
She further said there were times for her when she didn’t have money even to travel to meet her son who is now shifted to Belgaum prison or even to buy some articles for him,.
The Karnataka high court judgment quashed session’s court order
In December last year a big respite came for the miseries of Hashim Ali’s family, their long struggle finally showed some result and Karnataka High Court set aside sessions court verdict on Hashim Ali and quashed his one death sentence and life sentence of 2 counts, High Court observed that sessions court was flawed in awarding punishment basing upon police confessional statement. Hashim’s family claims that High Court judgment further reiterated their long cry from the beginning that their son is innocent.
Hashim Ali communicated with TCN from Belgaum prison
TwoCircles.net contacted Hashim Ali in Belgaum prison through his mother, as even writing letter addressed to the media is not allowed for him, he told brief points about his case to TCN via his mother. Hashim Ali told environment in courts and prisons was biased against Muslims where they often heard slangs like ‘Pakistanis’, Hashim said during his illegal custody by A.P. police he was severely tortured and pressurized often to accept the responsibility of gelatin stick blasts. When he was presented before the media after weeks of illegal detention Hashim assumed that phase of torture for him is over, but soon he realized that torture didn’t end but just changed its phase from physical to mental which he is bearing even till now.
Hashim observed Karnataka Sessions Court didn’t follow basic rules while awarding him death sentence, he said FIR registered in 2000 didn’t contain any single name. When they were brought from Hyderabad in 2004 their names were included, he said there is no direct evidence to link him with the blasts and whole case against him and others in the FIR was based on confessional statement given by Ibrahim in police custody which sessions court accepted.
As her mother reported Hashim was angered the way his whole trial since the beginning of 2000 is going on, he said trial, re-trial in different state and appeals against flawed judgments is consuming at least four years in each phase in great Indian judicial system, Hashim Ali now 40 was 27 year old at the time of his arrest fears that he will lose significant part of his life running behind courts and prisons for the crime which he claimed he never committed.
We are already being deprived of justice; we are struggling to get judgment
Hashim’s sister Sajjida said, “Even sometimes we feel judges are also scared in giving fair judgment, like our advocate carry on arguments for years, when the time for judgment arrive Judge either delay the judgment till he gets transferred, or sometime as it happened once with us Judge even refused to give judgment at all.”
With moist eyes she further added, “This long trials is no use to us, we know our brother is innocent, but when will we get justice, after how many years of patience we will get a fair judgment, 13 years have already passed, this type of justice is not righteous at all, we are now just waiting for a judgment, justice have already being denied to us.”
Hashim who had just completed one year of his love marriage when he was arrested said, after waiting for five years his wife lost her patience, divorced him and got married to someone else, which was a deep psychological trauma for him. But even in those tough times Hashim said he never ever lost his hope and along with his family have strived hard in search of justice, Hashim said like the way Karnataka High Court quashed one of his death sentence and 2 life sentence he is hopeful that rest of one death sentence and 8 life imprisonment in three other cases will also going to be set aside, but the catch for him is he doesn’t know when, or after how many more years of separation from his love ones.
Hashim Ali said he wrote numerous letters to Home Minister and Minority Aaffairs Minister urging them to finish all his trials in specified period of time, but he never got reply from any office.
As of now UPA Govt. Minority Affairs Ministry, and recently Home Ministry has promised to begin fast-track proceedings for Muslim youths arrested in Terror cases, Hashim Ali and 22 other Muslim youths languishing in jail for 13 years eagerly waiting for not even justice but only court judgments, will be a good case to follow up, since for them justice is something which they are already being deprived of.