NLU-D’s Centre on Death Penalty sets up crowd-funding initiative for wrongfully convicted Adam Suleiman Ajmeri

In May last year, the Supreme Court of India set aside the conviction of one Adam Suleiman Ajmeri, who had been accused of participating in the Akshardham Temple attack of 2002..Not only did the Supreme Court overturn the conviction (along with the capital sentence), but it also came down strongly on the investigative authorities..Mincing no words, the bench of Justices AK Patnaik and Gopala Gowda went on to express their,.“[a]nguish about the incompetence with which the investigating agencies conducted the investigation of the case of such a grievous nature, involving the integrity and security of the Nation. Instead of booking the real culprits responsible for taking so many precious lives, the police caught innocent people and got imposed the grievous charges against them which resulted in their conviction and subsequent sentencing.”.Upon his release, Adam bhai has found it difficult to earn a livelihood and support his family. Which is where National Law University Delhi’s Centre on Death Penalty stepped in. The Centre has previously interviewed Adam as part of their research project. Now, they stepped in with a crowd-sourcing initiative to help Adam raise the seed capital for a small dairy unit..The Centre has managed to raise 5 lakh till now. Bar & Bench spoke to the Centre’s Director, Anup Surendranth about this initiative..Excerpts:.Bar & Bench: When did the Centre on Death Penalty get involved in Adam bhai’s case?.Anup Surendranath: We first met Adam bhai as part of the Death Penalty Research Project in February 2014 in Sabarmati Central Prison, Ahmedabad. By then the appeal was in advanced stages in the Supreme Court and we were not involved in those proceedings..However, I clearly remember Adam bhai telling me in prison that he would one day meet me outside prison. When he was on campus earlier this week, he told us he remembers my rather worried reaction to that statement. Most death row prisoners hope that their sentence will be commuted but Adam bhai had this unwavering faith that he would be acquitted and released. The judgment from the Supreme Court in his case is a testament to the quality of justice that our legal system is capable of but it is something we don’t see often enough..B&B: How did the idea to crowd fund come about?.AS: Adam bhai contacted us a couple of months after his release with the troubling news that he was finding it very difficult to make ends meet. The little support his family received from family and friends had dried up after his release. While he had been set free, he found himself increasingly desperate about life outside prison. Eleven years in prison and inhumane custodial torture had left him incapable of doing many things..We visited him in Ahmedabad and he told us that he would like to set up a small dairy business to earn a livelihood. He was not able to raise the credit required for it and sought our assistance. Even though it was beyond the initial scope of the Project, we felt it was our responsibility to respond..Work like this continuously teaches us so many things and Adambhai’s struggle has taught us that the romantic notions of freedom has so little meaning when faced with the grim realities of daily survival..More information can be found here.