Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Arshad Madani faction) provides legal assistance to the acquitted trio
NEW DELHI – A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad acquitted three Muslims in the 2002 Akshardham Temple attack case. The acquittal comes after six years of legal proceedings, with the court ordering the release of the men due to a lack of prima facie evidence.
The court, presided over by Judge Hemang R Rawal, last week cleared Abdul Rashid Suleman Ajmeri, Muhammad Farooq Muhammad Hafiz Shaikh and Muhammad Yasin alias Yasin Bhatt, ruling that there was no evidence linking them to the attack beyond material already rejected by the Supreme Court.
The court noted that the Supreme Court had earlier acquitted the main accused in the case after finding no prima facie evidence and strongly criticising the investigation process. It said no new or independent material had emerged against the three men, making their continued prosecution unsustainable.
The Akshardham attack, carried out in September 2002 in Gujarat, became one of the country’s most high-profile terror cases and led to a series of arrests under POTA, a law that grants sweeping powers of detention and confession-based evidence. The legislation was repealed in 2004 following widespread criticism over misuse, particularly against Muslims.
Two of the acquittees, Suleman Ajmeri and Hafiz Shaikh, were not even in the country at the time of the Akshardham Temple attack, as they were working in Saudi Arabia. They were arrested upon their return from Saudi Arabia in 2019, nearly two decades after the incident, having been declared absconding earlier.
Legal advocacy for the accused was pursued by Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Arshad Madani faction), a prominent Muslim body that has handled multiple terrorism-related defence cases. Its legal aid committee had earlier challenged the original convictions in the Akshardham case, which resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2014.
The Supreme Court acquitted all those convicted by lower courts, including men who had been sentenced to death, citing lack of evidence and serious investigative lapses. The apex court also issued a rare and sharp reprimand to Gujarat police and investigating agencies for what it described as a failure to conduct a fair and credible investigation.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani welcomed the verdict of the POTA court and said the ruling exposed systemic failures. He said years lost to incarceration could never be restored and warned that prolonged trials under special security laws disproportionately damage Muslim lives, families and livelihoods even when innocence is eventually established.
