Life has come full circle for four students from the Old City who were charged and acquitted in the Mecca Masjid riots case of 2007. Acquitted in that case only three months ago, their names now figure in another chargesheet, that of the recent communal clashes in Saidabad and Madannapet. Having lost an academic year earlier, they fear that this time too they would have to spend days fighting their case in courts. The four – Moutesim Billah, Tarhana Fayaz, Syed Ahmed Hussain and Mutiuddin Wasif – are mentioned as ‘absconding accused’ in the riot cases. However, they are very much in the city and have taken anticipatory bail to avoid arrest. In the recent cases, all booked on April 8, Fayaz is listed as accused number 8, Billah as accused 9, Wasif as accused 12 and Hussain as accused 16.
Of the four, Moutesim Billah was the only one who had received a compensation of Rs 20,000 for being falsely implicated in the earlier riot case. Interestingly, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Central Crime Station which investigated the Mecca Masjid blast is also investigating the recent communal clash incidents. For the students, the cases mean yet another harrowing period of trying to defend themselves. While Billah, a B Tech student, at the time of Mecca Masjid blast had spent 100 days in police custody and was not allowed to write his final semester examinations, Fayaz, an LLB student was detained for 180 days. Ahmed Hussain and Mutiuddin Wasif, both commerce students, were kept in police custody for 12 days following the blasts and rioting and later put behind bars for 110 days.