7/11 blasts acquittals: Defence team, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind's dogged pursuit of justice
It's been a dogged pursuit of justice not only for the accused but a team of defence lawyers that built a case for acquittal that convinced the Bombay high court. Two former high court judges and successful defence lawyers came on board with the help of the Maharashtra branch of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a prominent organisation of Islamic scholars. Their collective skill, strategies and legal acumen led to the acquittal of the 12 accused, who were incarcerated for 19 years since their arrest in 2006.
Lawyer Ansar Tamboli said that counsel Yug Chaudhry was central to the defence team. With former high court judges S Murlidhar and S Nagamuthu coming on board, the team was fortified.
Lawyers Chaudhry and Payoshi Roy represented all the accused in the case and made common arguments for them during the morning and afternoon sessions of the hearings, respectively. Senior counsels Nagamuthu and Murlidhar, and senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan argued for two accused each and made their submissions before the court for two days each.
Tamboli said that the Jamiat footed the litigation expenses. Before the defence team came on board, about five counsels had turned the case down on account of its volume or citing paucity of time, he added.
'We have been working on the case right from the time of the conviction in 2015. The counsels who appeared in the matter agreed to do so because they were convinced that the accused were falsely implicated. We showed them that the matter was full of loopholes and how the evidence fell short,' said Tamboli.
He also said that the case was far more 'bulky' than an average criminal case and required a lot of preparation. 'On average, a criminal case has about 50 witnesses. But in this matter, there were 179 witnesses. There were 52 defence witnesses and two court witnesses. There were 169 volumes of documents, with each volume made of 400-500 pages,' he explained.
The legal cell of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind was shocked when only one of the 13 accused was acquitted by the lower court in 2015. 'But our lawyers assured us that we should appeal, that there was nothing in this case,' said a relieved Maulana Halimullah Qasmi, president of the Maharashtra Jamiat.
Desperate for legal representation, but unable to afford it, families of some of the accused had approached the Jamiat for help in 2006. 'We saw their financial condition—some of them had two families living in 10x15-feet rooms,' said Qasmi.
The late advocate Shahid Azmi, known for representing clients he believed were falsely implicated, was also handling some of the 7/11 accused. Among his many clients was Gulzar Azmi, then secretary of the Maharashtra Jamiat. Two of Azmi's sons had been picked up under the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in another case; Shahid managed to get them acquitted. The young lawyer convinced the older man of the need for a legal aid cell to help Muslims. That was how the Jamiat's Legal Aid Cell was born. It has, till now, achieved 192 acquittals across the country.
The Jamiat only takes up cases of those it believes are innocent, said Qasmi. 'Our legal team goes through the case papers. If we suspect that the accused is involved, we don't touch the case,' he said. 'Because, for us, the country comes first. Our maulanas have sacrificed so much in the freedom movement; we cannot support anyone trying to harm our country.'
Known for its fiercely anti-British stand (hundreds of scholars were hanged during the 1857 war of independence; later, many were charged with sedition and executed or sentenced to life), the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind was formally launched in 1919. It supported Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress and opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Partition. Post-independence, it emerged as the most influential organisation of Muslim clergy.
For the defence of the 7/11 accused, the Jamiat hired a galaxy of well-known names: Wahab Khan, Yug Chaudhry, Sharif Shaikh, Nitya Ramakrishnan from Delhi, and former judges S Murlidhar (former chief justice of the Orissa high court) and S Nagamuthu (Madras high court). 'Most lawyers charge us much less than they would otherwise,' said Qasmi. 'They know we are doing this as a service.'
The funds come from donations that the Jamiat receives, mostly as zakat (charity mandated on all Muslims). 'Because these are zakat funds, we have to use them very carefully,' said advocate Shahid Nadeem, who's been part of the Jamiat's legal team for 10 years. 'So, before taking up a case, we also collect information, through local units of our organisation, about the accused's own record. Also, we only help those who approach us and who are needy.'
No lawyer has yet refused a case, and most of the high-profile lawyers who've appeared for the Jamiat have been Hindus, said Qasmi. Have they ever been criticised for the work they do? 'If someone questions us, we point out that arrest doesn't make anyone a terrorist. That needs to be proved in court,' he said.
In the Nagpur session of the Maharashtra assembly in December 2014, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar had accused the Jamiat of promoting terrorism, asked for a ban on it, and made allegations against Gulzar Azmi. 'We had met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and had those remarks expunged,' said advocate Nadeem.
Despite the nature of the cases they take up, they face no pressure, revealed Qasmi. 'Everyone knows us as the organisation that opposed Partition. We believe that all those who live in this country are part of one qaum (community); religion does not define nationhood.'
The only man acquitted by the lower court in the case, Abdul Wahid Shaikh, has spent the last 10 years spreading awareness about the innocence of his fellow accused. He became part of the Jamiat's legal team, and also worked with the Innocence Network, a coalition of organisations that provide legal aid for those they believe have been wrongly accused.
Today was a vindication of Abdul's crusade, but the acquittal isn't enough, said lawyer Sharif Shaikh. 'There must be a public apology from the state and compensation for those who lost 19 years of their life,' he added.
'We believed in the innocence of the accused, and our hopes were realised,' said Qasmi. 'But the question remains: who carried out those blasts? The families of those who died need an answer that the investigating agencies must provide.'
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