In the eleven years he spent in jail, he lost his parents and an infant daughter. Despite suffering this mammoth tragedy, all Ali asked for was an apology
Photo credit: Hindustan Times
It was deeply painful to read about Irshad Ali, who was acquitted of terror charges by a trial court on December 22, 2016 but not before spending eleven precious years of his life in prison on false charges. First, he was forced to become a police informer and deployed on life-threatening tasks and after he refused to join a militant group across border on his wife’s advice, his angry handlers in the police implicated him in false terror charges.
In the eleven years he spent in jail, he lost his parents and an infant daughter. Despite suffering this mammoth tragedy, all Ali asked for was an apology in his interview with the Indian Express. Being totally aware of the fact that even your humble request of a mere apology is not going to be fulfilled, here, we say sorry.
We are sorry to the constitution-makers whose ideals of freedom, rights, justice and rule of law, we failed to implement.
We are sorry Ali:
On behalf of our constitution-makers who continued with the repressive colonial police structure which was formed to suppress our own people by our colonial masters.
We are sorry Ali on behalf of successive governments of India who had no political courage to bring much needed police reforms, which would have made our police citizen- friendly and not just an oppressive tool in their hands.
We are sorry on behalf of our brutal police who picked you up at an age of 21, along with your father, and tortured him in front of you. Police forced you to join them as their informer who would risk his life in their assignments. First, they used you as a pawn in their cynical ambition of getting awards and rewards by falsely implicating Muslim youths and after sometimes when you refused to be a part of their sinister plan they implicated you also.
We are sorry on behalf of the entire judicial system which was unable to come to your rescue for 11 long years due to its slow moving pace; for public prosecutors who come on television to do chest-thumping after every terror conviction and invent “chicken biryani” stories to influence public opinion. Our judicial system abandoned you helplessly for 11 years, the same system which can be evaded by the rich, political leaders and businessmen by hiring expensive lawyers.
We are sorry Ali on behalf of the media which amplify every petty issue at their prime time shows but, as you said, in the year 2008 CBI's clean chit in your case fell on deaf ears.
We are sorry on behalf of the youth of India that while you spent your entire youth in prison, we were in the premier universities enjoying every aspect of life. All the learnings, pleasures, joyful moments with friends and meeting with our loved ones whenever we want are all now loaded with a sense of guilt that while we enjoy here many youths like you are thrown into the prison on false charges.
We are sorry to your dead parents, your young wife and your dead infant daughter. Your old mother died after knocking every door for your rescue. Your old father too died after spending life time and savings on attempts to secure your release. Your young wife and your kids were deprived of your love and care and had to face great hardships to make their ends meet. They were ostracised by neighbours, relatives and society.
We are sorry to your religion which might have been a factor in your ordeal. While authorities are asked to go soft on the accused belonging to a particular religion, the prejudices against your religion lead the same authority to be extra tough on the accused of belonging to your religion.
We are sorry to the constitution-makers whose ideals of freedom, rights, justice and rule of law, we failed to implement.
This story was first published on Two Circles.