Bail after six years

Riyazuddin Nazeer had travelled to Pakistan and become a jehadi to avenge his father Maulana Naseeruddin's arrest on 'false charges'. After six years of incarceration in the Sabarmati jail, the Supreme Court granted bail to the 75-year-old cleric late last week, saying the Gujarat government has not been able to present any evidence against him

Maulana Naseeruddin, who has been languishing in a Gujarat jail for six years, has been finally granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Naseeruddin's son Riyazuddin Naseer, was recently arrested by the Karnataka police on charges of planning a series of terror attacks in and around the state to avenge his father's arrest on what he called were 'false charges'.

His claim now seems to be vindicated by the Supreme Court, which has granted bail to Naseeruddin saying that there's no credible evidence against him. The Hyderabad native had been charged with conspiracy against the state under section 120B and under POTA.

Riyazuddin had confessed that soon after his father's arrest, he went to Saudi Arabia, where he got in touch with ISI agents and expressed his desire to become jehadi.

He then went to Pakistan on a fake passport and trained to become a suicide bomber. He had planned to attack police headquarters in Hyderabad, Karnataka and even planned series of attacks along the coastline of Goa "to avenge his father's arrest" he told the police.

Controversial case

Naseeruddin's case had received wide media coverage following widespread protests in Hyderabad, which even led to the police shooting a demonstrator dead. The Gujarat police's case was plagued by controversy from the start, as Naseeruddin was initially implicated in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya, before changing the charge to 'conspiracy against the state'.u00a0

Interestingly, Assistant Commissioner of Police Narender Amin, who led the Gujarat police team that arrested Naseeruddin in Hyderabad on October 21, 2004, is currently lodged in an Ahmedabad jail in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi. The Hyderabad police too have booked a case against him in connection with the death of protestor Mujahid Saleem.

Strong words

Naseeruddin's bail appeal was pending in the Supreme Court for nearly seven months, and three notices were issued to the Gujarat government to submit the counter reply, without results.

In the hearing held last Friday, Naseeruddin's advocate Kamini Jaiswal told the bench consisting of Justice Markandeya and Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly that the Gujarat Government, by not responding to the court orders, had become a hurdle for the bail appeal, which violates his fundamentalu00a0 right as a citizen.u00a0

u00a0Countering this, Gujarat Public Prosecutor Hemantika Vahi opposed the bail appeal saying that granting of bail to Naseeruddin will affect the trial and many others will be in line for appeal. Justice Markandeya reacted to this with strong words, saying "already six years have passed without trial, and look at his age, will you take his life and leave him?"

Delayed homecoming

Meanwhile Lateef Mohammad Khan of Hyderabad based Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee of India (CLMCI) said that it would take another couple of days for the Moulana to return to his home in Hyderabad.

"There are formalities that need to be completed and only then will he be able to return to the city, which may be as late as the end of this week," he said.

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