03 July,2017 12:19 PM IST | Mumbai | Faisal Tandel
Acquitted man will approach the kin of victims of the 2006 terror attack with a single request — that they write to the court against capital punishment for the convicts who are on death row
Abdul Wahid Shaikh
Abdul Wahid Shaikh
Nearly two years after Abdul Wahid Shaikh walked out a free man in the 7/11 blasts trial and reclaimed his life, the 38-year-old is now fighting for the lives of the 12 other accused who were all convicted for the 2006 terror attack.
Shaikh, who is the only one to be acquitted in the case, will now become the face of innocence for five of the convicts who are on death row. He will knock on the doors of survivors and the kin of victims in the case with a single request - that they write to the authorities and ask that the death penalty be stricken. Shaikh, who was set free after nine years in prison, will share his own experience as an example of how the police allegedly frame innocent men for the attack.
"Most of them are innocent like me, and don't deserve the death penalty. Along with the family members of the accused, I will approach more than 200 kith and kin of the victims. I will be witness to the innocence of the other accused and plead the family members to write to the court against the death penalty," said Shaikh, who now teaches English and Science to school students in Std VI, VII and VIII.
This paper had reported earlier that Shaikh, along with senior advocates from Delhi and Mumbai and the family members of the accused, formed an NGO called the Innocence Network to help the 7/11 convicts.
"The Innocence Network website will be launched on 10 July, ahead of the 11th anniversary of the incident. It will include more than 1,000 pages of the chargesheet, judgment copies, depositions, defence witnesses, main documents, along with the profile of each accused. Any common man can learn about the accused and the case in detail," said Shaikh.
