Bashir Ahmad Baba, a 44-year old from Rainawari in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, came home on June 23, eleven years after the Gujarat Police detained him on terror charges, The Indian Express reported on Thursday. He was arrested under the severe Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
A court in Gujarat’s Vadodara ruled on June 19 that the prosecution had failed to establish the accusations against Baba and provide evidence against him.
Baba managed a computer institute in Rainawari and collaborated with a non-profit that held medical camps, particularly for children with cleft lip and palate.
He had been to Gujarat in February 2010 for a workshop. The anti-terrorism unit of Gujarat Police detained Baba from Anand district on March 13, 2010, a day before he was due to return home, accusing him of entering the state to build a network of young people for “terror training.” He was accused of being a member of the terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.
Baba was also allegedly in contact with Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin and one Bilal Ahmed Shera through phone and email, according to the authorities. According to Kashmirwalla, he was transported to Vadodara Central Jail after 16 days in anti-terrorism squad detention.
Baba’s attorneys defended him for the following 11 years, claiming that he was in Gujarat to attend a post-cancer treatment programme and give assistance to patients in the Kashmir Valley. His lawyer, Khalid Shaikh, said a doctor in Srinagar had advised him to join the camp.
“The ATS contended that Ahmad had used the laptop of the doctor whose camp he was attending to send emails to his Hizbul handlers in Pakistan,” Shaikh told The Indian Express. “They also said he was seen making suspicious phone calls and leaving the camp multiple times in the day on the pretext of having meals or offering prayers.”
An extra sessions court in Gujarat’s Anand district ruled that the Gujarat Police had given no proof that Baba stayed in the state to establish a “terror network” or that he got financial help for the alleged crime.
According to the court’s ruling, the prosecution has failed to show any proof that he was in contact with the sought Hizbul Mujahideen commanders.
Never lost Hope
Speaking to The Indian Express, Baba said he knew that he was innocent and never lost hope of being acquitted. “I knew I would be released honourably one day,” he said.
While incarcerated, he earned master’s degrees in three subjects: political science, public administration, and intellectual property law, according to Newsclick. “I spent the most of my time in jail studying and was confident that one day I would be found innocent and released,” he explained.
Baba, on the other hand, had mixed emotions about his release, saying that he had lost numerous family members during his stay in jail. Three years after being diagnosed with colon cancer, his father died in 2017.
