There's No Life After It

or Suleiman Memon, his acquittal in the serial blasts case means little. The eldest of the Memon brothers, he ran a business in Dubai when the blasts were plotted by Tiger and Ayub in Bombay. The verdict comes after 14 long years of being under a cloud of suspicion, five of those in jail as undertrial, witnessing his modest businesses and family ties crumble. And, to top it all, his wife Rubina has been sentenced to life.

Like Memon, there are 22 others who were implicated in the blasts conspiracy, held in jail as undertrials for years, spending the latter half of the 14 years on bail facing social suspicion and hostility, only to be acquitted by the TADA court. They stand cleared of all charges but their lives have meanwhile lost all meaning; many say it's difficult to pick up the pieces, some have become mentally unstable.

Take Krishna Pingle, ex- constable charged for letting the trucks ferrying the RDX and arms pass, and later suspended. Arrested on April 25, '93, he's been acquitted and is back home in Alibaug. Pingle still finds himself an "outcast" in the village. Hardly anyone talks to the family. Then there's Moiuddin Abdul Kadar, arrested on April 6, '93, and charged with aiding and abetting, and also attending meetings with the dons in Dubai. He was working there at the time but lost his job; instead spent close to three years in jail. Acquitted, he wants to start a business but has become a loner.

Bombay's Manzoor Qureshi was arrested on April 8, '93, for travelling to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training. Qureshi spent four years inside, lost his father, saw family shops sold off to fight his case. Acquitted, he now spends time at roadside tea-stalls. "Where do I even begin?" he asks. Like Manzoor, for those acquitted, relief comes mixed with a strange emptiness and an unmistakable rage against the judicial system that took away 14 years of their lives. Indeed, changed their lives forever.