The Hindu : Front Page : Tauqeer’s mother asks him to come out and clear his name

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Tauqeer’s mother asks him to come out and clear his name

Special Correspondent

“If he is guilty, hang him in front of me”

— Photo: Special Arrangement

IN ANGUISH: Tauqeer’s mother Zubeida Qureshi addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday.

MUMBAI: A distraught Zubeida Qureishi, mother of Abdus Subhan Qureishi alias Tauqeer, who is wanted in connection with terror e-mails, appealed to her son on Wednesday to come out in public and clear his name.

“I am a Hindustani and my son cannot do anything that is so terrible,” she said at a press conference here. “However, if my son is guilty, hang him in front of me,” she said.

“We are from a good family and we have brought him up well. In 1999, he was separated from us after he got married and lived in a rented house. He later went to stay on Mira Road with his wife in 2001. If my son is hearing this, let him come out from wherever he is. If he is guilty, let him be punished. But first let his guilt be proved.”

Her lawyer Mobin Solkar said Tauqeer had no known connection with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He also had no criminal cases against him. He studied up to SSC and then got a diploma in engineering from the Bharatiya Vidyapeeth in Navi Mumbai.

He was certified by Microsoft and he worked for a direct franchisee of Wipro for three years, after which he joined Datamatics. Tauqeer has three children, the eldest of whom is eight years old. Since 2006, he has had no contact with his wife either.

Mr. Solkar said the family did not know if he was alive or dead. It was questioned after the July 2006 Mumbai blasts, but the police could not establish Tauqeer’s involvement. The family went through a lot of humiliation and torture and it did not even think of filing a police complaint when Tauqeer went missing, he said.

Even after the Ahmedabad blasts, the police took away his CPU and laptop.

“We are not saying he is innocent,” Mr. Solkar clarified. He was not a fanatic or a so-called fundamentalist, but a good, fun loving person, his family said.

Mr. Solkar said the family had submitted petitions to the State Human Rights Commission and the Anti-Terrorism Squad. It was willing to cooperate with the investigations.

Supreme Court judgements said that it was wrong to attribute mens rea (criminal intent) to an absconding accused, because the fear factor was very strong.

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