Jailed on false terror charges: Jamiat for compensation

Prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulama- i-Hind (JUH) today demanded "stern action" against officials and agencies allegedly involved in jailing innocent persons on false terror charges and sought "compensation" from central and state governments for those acquitted by courts.
Calling for concerted efforts to defeat communal forces in the country, JUH President Maulana Syed Arshad Madani claimed several hundred people were lodged in jails across the country for terror acts they were never involved.
He was speaking after releasing a book 'Gyarah Saal Salakhon Ke Peeche' written by Mufti Abdul Qayyum who had spent 11 years in jail before being acquitted by the Supreme Court last year in a case related to the 2002 terror attack on Akshardham Temple at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

The book was earlier slated to be released by Madani in Ahmedabad on April 16, but Qayyum alleged that it was abruptly stopped by the state government.
"The central and state governments should take stern action against the officials and agencies responsible for destroying innocent lives under the bogey of fight against terror. There are several hundred people languishing in jails for terror acts which they never committed," said Madani.
He said, "Compensation should be paid by the central and state governments to the persons who were acquitted of false terror charges and their innocence was proven by the courts. There should be justice for those whose lives were destroyed due to conspiracies hatched by officials and agencies."

Speaking on the occasion, Qayyum narrated his experiences while he was in jail and said he was implicated in the case just because a few letters were recovered from the bodies of two terrorists, and the police charged him of writing them.
"The surprising thing was that the bodies of the terrorists were riddled with bullets. One was hit by 48 bullets, while other by 56 bullets, but the letters recovered from them were fresh - without any wear and tear or bloodstains. The Supreme Court immediately understood that I was falsely implicated," Qayyum claimed.