Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit in reply to the petition of Fahim Ansari, who was acquitted in the 26/11 terror attacks case, seeking a ‘police clearance certificate’ to enable him to drive an auto rickshaw for his livelihood.
Additional public prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh told a bench headed by Justice Sarang Kotwal that the state will have to verify the claims made by Ansari.
Deshmukh said she will have to take instructions from a senior officer and confirm the facts, and sought time to file an affidavit in response.
The bench agreed and posted the matter for hearing on April 3.
In May 2010, a special court had convicted lone Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the case but acquitted two Indian men accused in the case – Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed – noting lack of evidence.
The duo was accused of being co-conspirators and aiding and abetting terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in conducting the dastardly attacks on November 26, 2008 that killed 166 persons and injured hundreds of others.
Their acquittal was upheld by the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court too.
Ansari was, however, convicted and sentenced to 10 years jail in another case of Uttar Pradesh.
In January this year, Ansari filed a petition in the HC, stating that he sought for a police clearance certificate so that he could ply an auto rickshaw to earn his livelihood.
But the same was rejected on the ground that he was accused of being a member of a terrorist outfit, the plea said.
In the petition, Ansari said the decision was “arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory” as the same violated his fundamental rights for livelihood.
“The petitioner is legally entitled to engage in gainful employment, free from any legal blemish or barriers,” the plea said.
It added that just because Ansari was tried in the 26/11 terror attacks case, it cannot act as a blanket ban that disentitles him from availing job opportunities, especially when he has been acquitted by all courts.
Ansari sought a direction to the authorities to issue him a police clearance certificate.
As per the plea, after being released from jail in 2019, Ansari secured a job at a printing press in Mumbai but that shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thereafter he got a job in a printing press in Mumbra. However, since the income was low, Ansari applied for a three-wheeler auto-rickshaw license, which he got on January 1, 2024.
Thereafter, he applied for the mandatory Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), which is mandatory for plying an auto-rickshaw for commercial purposes.
When he did not receive any response, Ansari filed an application under the Right to Information Act wherein he was informed that the certificate could not be issued to him as he was accused of being a member of LeT.
According to the prosecution, Ansari and Ahmed had prepared maps of the city and handed the same to the alleged conspirators and masterminds of the attack in Pakistan.
The sessions court while acquitting them, however, noted that better maps were available online.
