Dr. Wahid Deen Mohammad Sheikh, who spent nine years in jail in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blast case, has sought compensation of Rs 9 crore from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) and the National Minorities Commission (NMC) for years of imprisonment and pain. The Maharashtra Police’s Anti -Terrorism Squad (ATS) investigated the train explosion case, with seven bomb blasts in suburban local trains within 11 minutes during the busy time, killing 187 people and injured more than 800. Thirteen people were arrested and prosecuted in 2006 in connection with the blasts.
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After a long hearing, the special court acquitted Sheikh, while the remaining 12 accused were sentenced to death or life imprisonment. An appeal was filed in the Bombay High Court and all the 12 accused were acquitted in July this year. Sheikh is now 46 years old. While narrating my tragedy, in 2006, at the age of 28, I was falsely implicated by an anti-terrorism squad under MCOCA in the 7/11 blast case. For nine years I lasted behind bars, until on September 11, 2015, the honorable special court of Judge Yatin D. Shinde did not acquit me from all the allegations, no evidence against me. I came out of jail, but the year I lost, the insult I have suffered, and the pain that my family endured can never be compensated.
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He described the impact of imprisonment on his personal and family life. During those years, I lost the most important year, freedom and dignity of my youth. I was brutally harassed in custody, causing me health problems like glaucoma and frequent body pain. When I was in jail, my father passed away, my mother’s mental health deteriorated, and my wife had to struggle alone to raise our children.