With glistening eyes Noorulhoda Shamsuddoha (28) met his wife after five years. And it was an emotional reunion. Shamsuddoha, one of the nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts, was picked up by the police only days after his marriage.
He was among the seven of the nine accused who walked out of jail on Wednesday after being granted bail. As they reached Malegaon the next day there were celebrations across the town; they got a hero's welcome.
But their smiles faded as they recalled the horror. Shamsuddoha was only 24 when the police came knocking at his door and whisked him away in a police van. "They arrested me days after I tied the knot. How could the police say that the Malegaon conspiracy at hatched at my wedding," he said.
Shamsuddoha says he has been under the police eye since the age of 16. "All I did was take part in a march against the United States attack on Afghanistan. Since then for any terror-related incident in the country, I was called for questioning. There was no time left to concentrate on my studies, leave alone building a career," he recalled. "However, I learnt to cope with being under the scanner and only when the situation seemed to improve the Malegaon incident happed. It dashed all my hopes. I wonder whether normalcy will ever return."
The five years in jail were a nightmare, for Dr Salman Farsi, whose career was cut short after he was arrested. He was the sole breadwinner of his family and they found it difficult to make ends meet. "My twins were only five at the time of my arrest. I was shattered," he said.
Dr Farsi wants to get back to practicing medicine. "It's going to take a while before I erase these bad memories. But with the support of my family and friends I am hopeful that I will forget about it as a bad dream. I want to start afresh."
Shabbir, who is his early 30s, is reunited with his family and he owes his freedom to his nephew Afzal. "Afzal was a Chartered Accountant, but he gave it all up to pursue law because no lawyer was willing to fight my case. The ordeal is over and prefers not to be reminded of the blasts and its aftermath," he said.
