Lost order keeps Aftab behind bars

Aftab Alam Ansari is finally a free man — in jail.

A city magistrate today released the Calcutta resident, detained in connection with the recent court blasts in the Uttar Pradesh capital, but the young man couldn’t step out of prison because the order sheet went missing.

By the time it was found and sent to the jail authorities, it was past 6.30 and too late.

A source at the district central prison said release orders had to reach jail officials by 4.30 in the afternoon.

“If no order reaches us by that time, we don’t release anyone unless the district magistrate, Chandrabhanu, intervenes. That is the rule,” the source said.

The delay meant another night in jail for the 27-year-old, who could have walked free yesterday itself had Lucknow police not mentioned another name in the release petition to additional chief judicial magistrate Rajendra Prasad Tripathi.

Till 9 this evening, the CESC employee — picked up on December 27 after the police mistook him for another man, “Mukhtar” — was still in jail.

His mother, Ayesha Begum, who reached Lucknow today from Calcutta, nearly broke down when she came to know that her son might not be released tonight.

Late tonight, Aftab’s lawyer said he could be released tomorrow morning around 7.30.

Earlier in the day, around 1.30pm, Tripathi signed Aftab’s release order. Around 4, when lawyers for the detained man reached the court, they were told Aftab’s entire file was missing.

Half an hour later, Tripathi ordered court officers to search for the file. It was finally traced, around 4.45, in a corner of the courtroom.

The magistrate then called the district central jail and asked the authorities that Aftab — arrested on charges of conspiracy, attempt to murder, waging war against the country and smuggling RDX into the country — be released soon as it was a special case.

Around 7, jail officials put up a list of undertrials to be released this evening. Aftab’s name was not on the list.

“We want to release him. He is anxious to meet his mother. But we are helpless,” said a jail official.

Aftab’s lawyer Mohammad Shoaib said he couldn’t figure out why jail officials were not releasing his client. “The police told us they wanted to send Aftab to Calcutta. But I don’t think the police can be trusted now.”

He said the police were deliberately trying to delay Aftab’s release because of the media glare. “They appear to be bent on escorting him to Calcutta under tight security,” he added.

“But Aftab’s mother doesn’t want this. She wants to take custody of her son.”

As she counted the hours, another thought kept coming back to Ayesha Begum — will her son, who got married last year, retain his job?

“He is the only bread earner of the family. He got his job in CESC after his father, an electrician, died. If he loses his job, we will all starve,” Ayesha Begun said as her eyes welled up.

News Source : Samachar