The Hindu : My case should be an eye-opener: Gilani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003

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My case should be an eye-opener: Gilani

By Our Special Correspondent

FREE AT LAST: Journalist Iftikhar Gilani along with his lawyer coming out of the Tis Hazari Courts in New Delhi on Monday. At right is Aanisa Gilani, his wife. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI JAN. 13. The Kashmir Times journalist, Iftikhar Gilani, was released from prison today after seven months of incarceration for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Gilani had been charged under the Official Secrets Act for possessing "sensitive'' documents relating to troop deployment in Jammu and Kashmir.

Giving the order for his release, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, said that "without going into the factual details of the case'', she was allowing the Government's plea, filed on Friday, for withdrawal of the case in the "public interest''. While ordering his release, the court ordered the confiscation of case property.

Mr. Gilani's release follows a volte face by the Government which decided to withdraw its case three days after it rejected a Military Intelligence report clearing him of wrong-doing. The Director-General of Military Intelligence (DGMI), O. S. Lochab, in his report — which the Ministry of Home Affairs first dismissed as "untenable'' — had said the documents found in Mr. Gilani's possession were of "no security value''.

Lt. Gen. Lochab and the DCP, Special Cell of Delhi Police, Ashok Chand, had been summoned to appear in court today to present their respective positions on the document. However, the CMM did not hear them as Mr. Gilani's counsel, V.K. Ohri, submitted that the court should not make any further inquiry, and instead take up the withdrawal plea of the Government.

Soon after his release was ordered, Mr. Gilani — in a statement circulated to the Press through his lawyer — thanked the Government for seeing through the "dirty and cruel game the Intelligence Bureau played against me with the help of certain bureaucrats''.

He called for an amendment of the Official Secrets Act. "In an era of transparency that India has entered with the Freedom of Information Act, there should be no place for such draconian laws,'' he said; adding that his case ought to act as a wake-up call for all journalists and concerned citizens as this could happen to anyone.

Pained by the manner in which a military general had been dubbed as incompetent for giving him a clean chit, Mr. Gilani urged the Government to identify and fix responsibility on those IB personnel who "organised an Income-Tax raid on my house, got me arrested on false charges, secured a damaging opinion from MI, even tried to implicate me in the murder of the Hurriyat leader, Abdul Ghani Lone, and continuously misled the political leadership to keep me in chains''.

Glad to be out and eager to get back to journalism, Mr. Gilani joined his lawyer in a Lohri celebration soon after his release from the high security Tihar Jail. In a separate statement, his wife, Aanisa Batul Gilani, expressed gratitude to God for bestowing "wisdom on the Government to withdraw the case''.

Grateful to the Fourth Estate for standing by her family in their hour of trial, she echoed her husband's wish to return to normal life and put the past seven months behind them.

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