On December 26, 2001, Mohammad Abdul Hai boarded a train to Gujarat to attend a three-day seminar on Muslim education organized by the All India Minority Education Board, of which Hai – then an associate professor at Jodhpur’s Jai Narain Vyas University – was a member.
The three-day event was expected to be attended by nearly 400 Muslim scholars, activists and community leaders from across India.
Little did Hai know that the event was going to change his life forever and soon he would not only be called a “terrorist” and “anti-national” but will have to spend the next 14 months in jail.
Hai and 120 others attending the seminar were arrested under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a stringent anti-terror law, and charged them with being members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and for organizing the meeting to “promote and expand” SIMI’s activities.
A total of 127 people, all Muslims, were arrested.
More than 19 years after they were booked, a court in Surat on Sunday acquitted all of the accused in the case. Five of them died during the long trial.
Indian authorities accused SIMI of carrying out several bombings and of having links with armed groups based in Pakistan. Hundreds of its alleged members have been arrested, but the group says it merely propagates an “Islamic way of life” for India’s Muslims.
