By ALIZA NOOR / Maktoob Media
Bushra Alam, 30, has impatiently waited for a 5-minute call from her husband Mohammad Alam, 31, almost every day in the past two years. Alam, who is in Lucknow district jail under Hathras conspiracy case, is only able to exchange a few pleasantries and updates in that little time over the phone.
This is the story of a driver who picked up a ride to Hathras, Uttar Pradesh in October 2020 and has not come back home yet.
A bench of Allahabad High Court on 23 August, had granted bail to Alam in UAPA case, stating that no incriminating article or evidence was recovered from his possession, making him the first of the accused to receive bail but he is not free yet.
“What have I gotten myself into? Please do something so they let me go. When will they release me now?” Alam told Bushra when she met him last on 29 June this year.
Alam was arrested along with three others — journalist Siddique Kappan, Campus Front of India (CFI) office-bearers Atiqur Rahman and Masood Ahmad while they were on their way to report on the rape and killing of a Dalit girl which had triggered nationwide outrage and to visit the family members of the victim.
The Supreme Court on Friday, 9 September also granted bail to Kappan after nearly two years. The bench stated that “every person has the right to free expression.”
“He has been arrested in an ED matter, a complaint in a PMLA case that was filed months ago. That is the reason why despite bail in the UAPA case, he has not been released yet.”
Advocate Saifan Shaikh, Alam’s lawyer
Bushra told Maktoob, “When I heard about the bail, I got so much hope, I have thanked the lawyers and God many times. I keep thinking we will finally be together. But now they are taking their time to free him again.”
The lawyer said that the charge sheet in the case extends to over 5,000 pages and has not yet been given to the accused.
Calling it a draconian Act, he noted that section 43D of UAPA, subclause 5, is against giving bail easily. If the prosecution is able to prove the prima facie evidence and the court agrees, then getting bail is extremely difficult. Even though the lawyers have been able to achieve this in Alam’s case, the ED case now stands as a roadblock.
‘He has nothing in his account, nothing to hide’
Bushra repeatedly emphasised one thing: that Alam was not related to the case in any way, nor did he know the other accused from before. “He’s just a cab driver who can travel anywhere and was not aware that this one trip would cost so much,” she said.
Agitated, Bushra pointed out how no proper investigation was done before imposing UAPA and other charges. “Had they found out something, procured any evidence, it would have come forth that there is something he was involved in. The police curated so many stories and kept him in jail for two years.”
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com . Read the full story here