HC rejects 26/11 acquitted accused’s plea for police certificate

Citing security concerns, a division bench of justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhosale refused relief to Ansari, who was earlier denied a PCC by the police

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by Fahim Arshad Mohammad Yusuf Ansari, one of the two accused acquitted in the 26/11 terror attack case, seeking a police clearance certificate (PCC) so he could drive a commercial auto-rickshaw.

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Citing security concerns, a division bench of justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhosale refused relief to Ansari, who was earlier denied a PCC by the police.

“Considering the peculiar facts of the case and keeping in mind the question of security, the authorities have rightly refused the police clearance certificate to the petitioner for driving the auto rickshaw commercially. In this view, the petition is dismissed,” the bench said.

Ansari, 51, has been unemployed since the pandemic forced a Byculla printing press, where he worked as a delivery hand, to shut down. With little option but to start afresh, he applied for a commercial driving licence last year and sought the mandatory PCC after receiving the licence on January 1 this year.

The Mumbai police rejected his request, citing alleged links with the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that planned the 26/11 attacks.

In his petition, Ansari said the denial of a PCC was “arbitrary, discriminatory, and seeped in prejudice.” He argued that he was being deprived of his fundamental right to livelihood despite having already served his sentence in another case.

“The fact that the petitioner was tried in the (26/11 terror attack) case cannot operate as a blanket ban that disentitles him from availing opportunities, especially in the light of the acquittal order passed by the special court and confirmed even by the Supreme Court,” the plea said.

During one of the hearings, Ansari had submitted that despite his acquittal, he had been unable to get a job due to denial of the PCC. While jobs in security services, private companies, factories, schools, and colleges also required a character certificate from the police, the monthly salary ranged ₹7,000-10,000, which was not enough for his family. No one was willing to hire him as a domestic help or as a personal driver either, he had said.

“Plying an auto rickshaw or a taxi can be the most effective means for me to eat enough, as I can earn ₹20,000-25,000 per month,” Ansari had told the court.

He had also argued that since no first information report (FIR) was registered against him after he was released from jail, he should be granted a character certificate.

The state government, however, clarified that it was not willing to grant Ansari the character certificate.

Ansari was arrested in January 2009 for allegedly providing hand-drawn maps of locations targeted during the November 2008 terror attack, and conducting reconnaissance for the LeT operatives who executed the attack. In May 2010, he and co-accused Sabauddin Ahmed were acquitted, with the court noting that the prosecution’s evidence “lacked both quantity and quality.” The Bombay High Court upheld the acquittal in 2011.

Convicted in connection with a separate 2007 attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur, Ansari was released after completing his prison term in 2019. He subsequently found temporary work at a printing press until it shut during the pandemic, leaving him unemployed and prompting him to approach the police and later the high court for a PCC.