Owais Gul
SRINAGAR: After being imprisoned for more than two decades, three persons from hailing from Srinagar City here were released by the police after the Rajasthan High Court (HC) found them innocent.
The trio was booked in Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case. They were accused of being involved in dumping of arms and ammunition case. However, after finding the trio innocent, Rajasthan High Court had ordered release of the youth who reached home today after serving 24 long years of imprisonment in Jaipur and Tihar jails.
Nevertheless, emotional scenes were witnessed at the residents of the trio where a huge gathering of people were seen welcoming them, making queue to hug them after almost-two-and a half-decade. The trio has been identified as Lateef Ahmed, son of Ghulam Ahmed, a resident of Shamswari, Khankha-e-Moula, Mirza Nisar Hussain, son of Mirza Ali Muhammad of Namchabal, Fateh Kadal and Muhammad Ali Bhat, son of Sher Ali Bhat, of Hassanabad, Rainawari.
Lateef Ahmed while talking to Valley Spectrum said that he is not able to believe that he is free. “I was picked in Kathmandu and kept in Delhi police cell in connection with Lajpat Nagar bomb blast. After that, Jaipur police cell also sought our custody.
“I was linked with a blast that had occurred in Mahua in 1996 and then also with the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case of May 1996,” Lateef said. During his detention period, Lateef’s father went to meet his son at Jaipur and just after a week after meeting his son, he died in Srinagar. “There are many innocent people especially Kashmiris languishing in Jaipur jail, who are being denied trial. Today, I feel like I am in a deep sleep and lost in dream of returning home,” he added.
Lateef’s mother said that she doesn’t believe her eyes. “We had lost all hopes. After every court hearing, we were being told that there is another hearing. Our only hope was Almighty Allah.” The emotional scenes were also witnessed at the residences of other two persons where a huge crowd of people was jostling to have a glimpse of the released inmates.
“I have served 24 years of detention. We were freed by Delhi high court first and then by Rajasthan court. At the end, we were proved innocent. I was 17-year-old when I was arrested from Nepal. Today I am not able to recognize even my family members. Having lost all hopes, we had only one hope of Allah and he helped us and today we are back to our homes because of Allah will,” Mirza said.
Muhammad Ali Bhat has also lost both of his parents, mother and father during the period he was kept behind the bars for no reason. “He was arrested in 1996 and was lodged in Tihar till 2014 and then shifted to Jaipur jail where they were lodged till July 24, 2019,” said a family member.
Ali said that he had thought that he would meet his family after his death. “But Allah is great and I am back with my family after such a long time,” said Ali who was picked up from Nepal where he was selling carpets.
The trio was accused of being involved in dumping of arms and ammunition case in which Rajasthan High Court found them innocent and ordered their release. Similarly, Delhi High Court also had found the trio as innocent and ordered their release in Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case of May 1995.
A bomb blast occurred in Lajpat Nagar market in Delhi on 21 May 1996, killing 13 civilians and injuring 39 others. The blast was followed a day later by the 1996 Dausa blast. Six members of the militant organisation Jammu Kashmir Islamic Front were convicted for the blasts.