“I never lost hope that I will be acquitted one day,” said Bashir Ahmed Baba, who was acquitted of terror charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) after 11 years.
He was arrested by the Gujarat Police’s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on February 13, 2010, before he was to leave for home after attending a workshop in the state.
The ATS charged him with trying to establish a terror network in the state for Hizbul Mujahideen.
Baba denied he had come to Gujarat for terrorism, but the ATS told the court he was in touch with Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and one Bilal Shera over phone and internet.
His lawyer argued in the court that he had come to Gujarat to attend a workshop on providing services to patients in the Kashmir valley. His lawyer said a Srinagar doctor had recommended that he attend the camp.
The ATS had accused Baba of using the laptop of the doctor whose camp he was attending to send emails to his HM handlers in Pakistan and making suspicious phone calls after leaving the camp multiple times in the day on the pretext of having food or offering prayers.
On June 19, an additional sessions court judge in Anand acquitted Baba of all charges levelled by the ATS.
The court said no evidence was presented by the police to prove Baba had stayed back in the state to set up a “terror network”, and that he received financial aid for the alleged crime.
“The prosecution has also failed to establish any evidence to prove that he was in touch with the wanted Hizbul Mujahideen commanders,” the court said in its order.
“I knew one day I will be released and that is why I never lost hope,” Baba told THE WEEK.
He said he is planning to pick up the pieces to restart his life
Asked whether he plans to get married, he said he plans to join his brother in running the shop he had opened after upgrading it.
About his long detention, Baba said he thinks it was written in his destiny, so he had to be there. “I take it like that,” he said. “I lost my father when I was in jail. When I was arrested, he fell into depression and then developed colon cancer and died.”
Baba said after he returned home, he felt his mother was also battling depression.
“After seeing me, she has become a bit anxious,” he said. “She is happy to see me, but I have noticed signs of anxiety in her.”
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He said his mother had to bear a lot.
“After I was arrested, my father died and then my brother would be out the whole time for work; I think this pushed her into depression. You can see how much she has changed if you see photos from five years ago,” Baba said.
Baba said he did three masters courses in jail in political science, public administration and intellectual property rights.