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Convict families: one frets, another unfazed
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Agencies
Friday, Aug 07,2009 12:32 Hrs
Mumbai: The family of one of the 2003 twin blasts convicts still swears by his innocence; the family of another don’t want to be linked to the case at all.
“For me, my younger brother is still innocent. The court has not considered several of our arguments,” said a weeping Anjum Ansari, the elder brother of Ashrat Ansari who was sentenced to death in the 2003 blasts case.
On the other hand, when Newsline tried to call Irfan Sayyed, the son of Sayyed Mohammed Hanif, a woman claiming to be Irfan’s wife took the phone. “We are not concerned with the verdict at all. My husband has already gone through a lot after the incident and we want to be left alone. Irfan is still facing problems while seeking employment because of his father and he has nothing to do with the family,” she said.
The sentence had left Ansari shaken. “Today morning, I had offered namaaz and sought lesser punishment for my brother, but Allah has not answered my prayers.”
Ansari, who runs a small carpentry shop in Andheri, has never missed any court dates in the past six years when the trial was being conducted at the special court. He used to wait outside the courtroom for hours to just slip a food packet to Ashrat. “The world around us collapsed once the crime branch arrested my brother from our house in Andheri in September 2003. Relatives disowned us and cut off all relations, may be to avoid police questioning, while neighbours stopped visiting our house even on occasions like Eid and Diwali. Neither did any Muslim group support or stand by us, my entire family was labelled terrorist just by the false arrest of Ashrat,” he said.
Ashrat was a childhood friend of one of the accused, who turned approver in the twin blasts case. A zari worker by profession, Ashrat was planning to get married and settle down in life when the police arrested him.
“For me, my younger brother is still innocent. The court has not considered several of our arguments,” said a weeping Anjum Ansari, the elder brother of Ashrat Ansari who was sentenced to death in the 2003 blasts case.
On the other hand, when Newsline tried to call Irfan Sayyed, the son of Sayyed Mohammed Hanif, a woman claiming to be Irfan’s wife took the phone. “We are not concerned with the verdict at all. My husband has already gone through a lot after the incident and we want to be left alone. Irfan is still facing problems while seeking employment because of his father and he has nothing to do with the family,” she said.
The sentence had left Ansari shaken. “Today morning, I had offered namaaz and sought lesser punishment for my brother, but Allah has not answered my prayers.”
Ansari, who runs a small carpentry shop in Andheri, has never missed any court dates in the past six years when the trial was being conducted at the special court. He used to wait outside the courtroom for hours to just slip a food packet to Ashrat. “The world around us collapsed once the crime branch arrested my brother from our house in Andheri in September 2003. Relatives disowned us and cut off all relations, may be to avoid police questioning, while neighbours stopped visiting our house even on occasions like Eid and Diwali. Neither did any Muslim group support or stand by us, my entire family was labelled terrorist just by the false arrest of Ashrat,” he said.
Ashrat was a childhood friend of one of the accused, who turned approver in the twin blasts case. A zari worker by profession, Ashrat was planning to get married and settle down in life when the police arrested him.
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