Innocent Prisoners; A first-hand experience with State, police and judiciary
Book: Innocent Prisoners (Begunah Qaidi)
Author: Abdul Wahid Shaikh
Reviewed by Afra Abubacker
Pages: 504
Price: Paperback ₹495
Publishers: Pharos Media & Publishing Pvt Ltd, Abul Fazal Enclave Part 1, Abul Fazal Enclave, Part-1 Block D, Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New Delhi, Delhi
It’s been six years since Abdul Wahid Shaikh has been declared innocent by the court, after Anti Terrorism Squad arrested him in 2006, in connection with the Mumbai train blast. But many times with no prior notice, police still drop in at Shaikh’s residence, in uniform and not, for interrogation and others, scaring his kids that he would be again picked to prison.
Shaikh, a primary school teacher in Mumbai, has had his life take unexpected turns since 2001. And with his two-decade-long first-hand experience with the state, police and judiciary, Shaikh penned a book, Begunah Qaidi, Innocent Prisoners, while in prison in Urdu. Later it got translated into Hindi and the English translation was launched last week, at the second annual conference of the Innocence Network, which works for the wrongly incarcerated worldwide.
Professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University, Veena Das said at the book launch, that Shaikh discusses how accusations are burdened not only to the individual and families but also “fractures entire communities through systematic targeting and harassment”….
