26/11 terror attack case: Acquitted man moves Bombay HC for police clearance certificate to earn a living

Mumbai: Fahim Ansari, who was acquitted in the 26/11 terror attack case, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a ‘police clearance certificate’ to enable him to drive an autorickshaw for his livelihood.

In May 2010, a special court had convicted lone Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the case and acquitted two Indian accused, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, noting lack of evidence.

The duo was accused of being co-conspirators and aiding and abetting terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in orchestrating the attack on November 26, 2008, that killed 166 persons and left hundreds of others injured.

The Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld the acquittal of the two.

Ansari was, however, convicted and sentenced to ten years in jail in another case in Uttar Pradesh.

He filed a petition in the HC last month stating that he needed a police clearance certificate to drive an autorickshaw to earn his livelihood. In his plea, Ansari said the authorities declined to issue him the certificate on the grounds that he was accused of being a member of a terrorist outfit.

Ansari in the petition called the decision “arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory” and said it violated his fundamental rights for livelihood. “The petitioner is legally entitled to engage in gainful employment, free from any legal blemish or barriers,” the plea said.

It added that just because Ansari was tried in the 26/11 terror attack case it cannot act as a blanket ban that disentitles him from availing job opportunities, especially when he has been acquitted by all courts.

Ansari sought a direction to the authorities to issue him a police clearance certificate.

As per the plea, after being released from jail in 2019, Ansari secured a job at a printing press in Mumbai but that shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He subsequently got a job in a printing press in Mumbra. However, since his income was low, Ansari applied for a three-wheeler autorickshaw license, which he got on January 1, 2024.

Thereafter, he applied for the mandatory Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), which is mandatory for plying an auto-rickshaw for commercial purposes.

When he did not receive any response, Ansari said he sought information under the Right to Information Act and learnt that the certificate could not be issued to him as he was accused of being an LeT member.

His petition came up for hearing in the HC on Tuesday before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale. The bench, however, recused itself.

The matter would now be heard on March 17 by a division bench headed by Justice Sarang Kotwal.

According to the prosecution, Ansari and Ahmed had prepared maps of Mumbai and passed them on to the alleged Pakistan-based conspirators and masterminds of the attack.

Acquitting the two, the sessions court had noted that better maps were available online.