A Delhi court acquitted Dr Shahid Badar Falahi, former chief of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) of charges of promoting enmity between different religious groups on 26 March. He was charged under 153A, 153B and 505 of Indian Penal Code. Sanjay Khanagwal, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House Court held that the prosecution had failed to connect the accused to the charges.
A case was lodged against Shahid on 19 May 2001,at the New Friends Colony police station for fixing poster of three controversial religious sites (Babri Masjid, Masjid Al Aqsa and Masjid-e-Qartaba and SIMI written on it) on the wall of a Jamia Millia Islamia’s SRK hostel building. It was later on transferred to the Special Cell after SIMI was banned on 27 September 2001. Soon after the ban the police raided its Zakir Nagar headquarters and arrested several of its top leaders, including Dr. Shahid. According to prosecution, the sticker was pasted on 10 January but the case was registered on 19 May when SIMI was not a banned organisation.
Dr Shahid, after his acquittal, told Radiance that all witnesses in this case said it was a false case and had not seen him doing so. Only one constable claimed to have seen me putting the sticker and had claimed that I was also shouting ‘Hindustan murdabad and Pakistan jindabad’ there. “I thank Allah that I have been acquitted from all false cases; only one case is left and I am hopeful that I will be acquitted from it as well. Now all will understand that it was a conspiracy to frame young Muslims and defame them. It took almost 15 years to come out clean from a false and fabricated case. It is half justice. What have those who had framed me lost? Can the loss I have suffered in these years be adequately compensated? So long as action against those who framed me is not taken, there cannot be complete justice.
“NDA banned SIMI for two years but Congress extended the ban to five years. NDA had banned it on false ground and Congress added one more feather to that false ban. It is immature to think they will allow us to live in peace, work and lead a normal life,” Badar said in a mood of dejection.