Kriti Agrawal
Habib Mohammed, an auto driver from Agartala, Tripura, has returned home after four-year imprisonment. He was detained in 2017 in connection with the terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) in 2005. He served four years and three months in the city jail before being released on June 14, 2021.
In its ruling discharging him from the case, the NIA Special Court cited a lack of convincing proof of his involvement in the case.
The Judge asked, “He struggled to grasp why he was arraigned as an accused in the case?”.
Mr Mohammed, speaking to our correspondent from Agartala, stated,
“I have never been a fundamentalist and have never been participated in any terror activity. Nearly 12 years after the purported incident, the authorities detained me and accused me of being a terrorist. For more than four years, my family went without a breadwinner. The Court has finally granted me justice, but no one will ever be able to compensate me for my time in prison or the pain my family and I have through due to no fault of our own.”
Mr Mohammed’s supposed confession statement was dismissed as evidence by NIA Special Court Judge Kasappa Naik, who also pointed out that the prosecution had failed to acquire any corroborative evidence to corroborate the assertions in the statement.
The Judge stated in his judgment that Court cannot establish accusations against Habib Mohammed simply because a charge sheet has been submitted against him.
In the last three months, Courts in Karnataka have granted relief to multiple defendants in instances under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2008.