Muslims falsely implicated in terror case cannot let go of stigma

A recently released documentary highlights how the police and the Intelligence Bureau have been arbitrarily picking up innocent Muslim men on charges of being involved in terrorist activities.

Although the court did acquit these men, it did so after agonising wait of years. While law might have given them a clean chit, the stigma is forever stuck with them and they continue to live in the shadow of untold miseries.

The documentary, After the Storm, revolves around seven Muslims who were accused of anti-national activities. Courts’ acquittal has done precious little to help them get their life back on track. The police atrocities have left an indelible scar on their psyche. And their lives.

One of the seven subjects of the documentary is Mukhtar Ahmed of Bangalore. He was in retail business of readymade garments. At 3 am on September 3, 1993, CBI officials picked him up from his home under The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, or Tada.

He was accused of being involved in bomb blast at Chennai office of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It was only in 2007 that the court acquitted him of all the charges, ending the hardships he faced for no fault of his.

But then, his hardships did not end with the acquittal. By the time his name was cleared, 14 years of his life were wasted. He had spent six years behind bars and remained in Chennai on conditional bail for eight years, away from his family and business. In Chennai, he had to report at the CBI’s headquarters every day.

Coming back to Bangalore and starting afresh was an uphill job. The society kept a distance from him and his family, not wanting to associate themselves with a ‘terror suspect’. After all, the CBI had produced him in Tada court on charges of a bomb blast and he had spent time in jail.

“I was given the name Tada Mukhtar by the society, but I did not mind it and lived with it. After becoming financially stable, there have been instances when business rivals have written letters to the ministry in Delhi, accusing me of planning a blast,” Ahmed says.

The director of the documentary, Shubhradeep Chakravorthy, said the atrocities meted out to such innocent people should be compensated for. He said the authorities should tender them unconditional apology to restore people’s faith in democratic institutions.

Highlighting the ill-effects of the false charges, he said the subjects of his documentary agreed to be interviewed on the condition that it was shot indoors; they are afraid that the law of the land might hold them guilty again.