And Ammi weeps for Sharjeel Imam

Men in uniform sped away with Muzzammil Imam after they found him at his friendrsquos residence at Kako in Biharrsquos Jehanabad district on January 28 2020 Stopping at a farm the boss barked ldquoRunrdquo Muzzammil defiantly squatted on the ground The boss grabbed his hair shoved into his mouth the muzzle of a pistol and said ldquoWhere is SharjeelrdquoMuzzammil said he did not know where his brother wasSharjeel had gone into hiding on the evening of January 25 as five states one after another filed FIRs in connection with his speech at Aligarh Muslim University From that 40minute oratory a 40second segment had been posted on social media It depicted Sharjeel asking Muslims to organise a blockade of Chickenrsquos Neck or the Siliguri Corridor Then only he said the Modi government would withdraw the Citizenship Amendment ActFrom the farm they drove Muzzammil blindfolded to Karauna Police Station The boss ordered ldquoTake off your pantsrdquo Shoot a video make it go viral on social media the boss told his mates repeating over and over again ldquoWhere is Sharjeelrdquo They had been hunting for him for two daysSharjeel was awaiting the arrival of Ahmad Ibrahim a lawyer friend from Delhi They had decided he would surrender to the police in Ahmadrsquos presence At 3 pm Ahmad reached Kako But before Sharjeel stepped out of his cousinrsquos place to surrender his mother was taken to meet himShe broke down She said she had warned him not to get entangled in the antigovernment protest He said ldquoAmmi if we educated ones do not protest against an unjust law who would stand up for poor Muslimsrdquo He said he was emulating his father who had worked for the community before he died in 2014 Sniffling while telling me this she said her parting words to Sharjeel were ldquoGo I place you in Allahrsquos custody Only he knows bestrdquoSince then Sharjeel has been granted bail in four of the seven cases registered against him Yet he languishes in Delhirsquos Tihar Jail as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act under which it is difficult to get bail has also been invoked against him for conspiring to foment the 2020 Delhi riots So it will be that Sharjeel will celebrate his birthday inside Tihar on June 1His family does not throw birthday bashes The only exception Muzzammil remembers was when Tej Pratap Yadav son of Lalu Prasad Yadav called up Sharjeel to wish him on his birthday in 1999 Tej said either Sharjeel were to come over to the chief ministerrsquos residence to party or the Imams would have to host him and his bodyguardsSharjeel and Tej were classmates in Standard V and VI at St Xavierrsquos High School Patna The Imams would play cricket at the chief ministerrsquos residence every evening Muzzammil remembers Lalursquos wife Rabri Devi the then chief minister would sit Sharjeel and him on her lap and feed them sweets every Holi It was there Sharjeel had his first birthday bashTej left St Xavierrsquos after Standard VI He became a minister in Bihar in 2015 Sharjeel went to the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay He festers in jail On the contrasting stories of the two schoolboys Sharjeelrsquos Ammi would likely say Allah knows bestAt IIT Bombay Sharjeel identified the negligible presence of Muslims on campus as a significant factor behind the Islamophobia there He was quizzed on his beard and such like Once in an induction interview for a hostel a student asked What would he do if they abused Prophet Muhammad Yet he made several Hindu friends who are assisting him in various ways through his ongoing trials and tribulationsWith BTech and MTech degrees from IIT he turned down an international bank job offering him R37 lakh a year The reason he did not wish to work for an entity profiteering from interest which Islam proscribes After working for two years in Bengaluru one fine day he called up his Abbu to take permission for studying historyGo ahead Abbu said but Ammi objected arguing that the familyrsquos financial problems would be exacerbated without Sharjeel pitching in Abbu countered that Sharjeel would write a book the world would read He was selected for a Masterrsquos course in history at Delhirsquos Jawaharlal Nehru University In 2014 Abbu was diagnosed with stomach cancer To meet medical expenses Sharjeel wanted to return to the corporate world ldquoNordquo Abbu vetoed ldquoI am going to die soonrdquoHis incarceration has stalled his PhD thesis In jail he reads and keeps a diary of his experiences hoping to write the book of his Abbursquos dream Widowed Ammi prays daily for Sharjeelrsquos release at each namaz Her solace is the weekly video chat with her sonShe does tear up to feel lighter when her heart brims with sorrow It seems she had just cried for she exuberantly asked Did you know Sharjeel led the Eid prayer at Tihar ldquoMasharsquoAllah Sharjeel has put on weightrdquo Ammi said vindicating what Khalil Gibran wrote ldquoYour joy is your sorrow unmaskedrdquo A heartless State cannot erode a motherrsquos optimismThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper