26/11 case acquitted man moves HC seeking right to livelihood

Fahim Ansari seeks Police Clearance Certificate after acquittal in 26/11 case to work as autorickshaw driver.

Fahim Arshad Mohammad Yusuf Ansari, who was acquitted in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) so that he can move on in his life and earn a livelihood by working as an auto-rickshaw driver.

Mr. Ansari’s petition claimed that the police authorities have refused to grant him the letter on the grounds of his alleged links with the terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The petition said the decision by the Police department was arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory and that it denied him of his fundamental right to livelihood.

When the matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale, the Bench recused itself from hearing the case. The matter would now be heard in March by a Division Bench led by Justice Sarang Kotwal.

In December 2008, Mr. Ansari was arrested in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, while already in custody in a different case in Uttar Pradesh for which he was sentenced 10 years in prison. He was released in 2019.

The petition said that after he was released from prison in 2019, he secured a job at a printing press in Mumbai but the firm shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He secured another job in yet another printing press in Mumbra but due to insufficient income to sustain his family, he applied for a three-wheeler autorickshaw licence, which he got in January 2024. Following this, he applied for a mandatory Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) to obtain a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) badge and the legal licence to drive an autorickshaw for commercial purposes.

When his application was rejected, Mr. Ansari filed a plea under the Right to Information Act and received a response in August 2024 saying that his certificate was rejected due to his alleged involvement with the LeT.

“Refusing to award the Police Clearance Certificate to the petitioner on the ground that he was a member of LeT is entirely arbitrary, discriminatory and an action seeped in prejudice. The petitioner having suffered the full impact of punishment, and paying his dues to the society for the offence he committed in the former, is legally entitled to engage in gainful employment, free from any legal blemish or barriers and the withholding of the Police Clearance Certificate without any basis in law or in fact is a violation of the rights guaranteed to the petitioner under Article 19(1)(g) and Article 21,” the petition stated.