BANGALORE:“Our second son Salahuddin Ayyoobi was just six-month-old when my husband was arrested in Coimbatore blast case in 1998. Since then he had been seeing his father only behind bars. He spent hardly about three years with his father at home after my husband was acquitted in the case in 2007.But, our plans to lead a happy life was spoiled again with his arrest in August of 2010 in connection with the Bangalore serial bomb blast case.”
This is what Sufiya Madani, wife of PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani, told Express in a candid interview. She had met her husband at Parappana Agrahara Central Jail after one year. Sufiya claimed that her husband was in no way connected with any terrorist activities.
“I had met him in January 2011. And one year after that I met him on Tuesday. Due to restrictions on my movement imposed by NIA court, I can’t move out of Ernakulam, and meet him frequently. Though he has become physically very weak, his inner strength is tremendous and unshakable. He has advised us to not lose our hearts and pray for him,” she said.
“Since Madani’s arrest, we are praying for his early release. Two days before his arrest, his father Abdul Samad, a retired headmaster of a government school, suffered a paralytic attack after hearing of his possible arrest again. Now, he is bedridden with the left side of the body paralysed. He is not aware of Madani’s arrest. We are finding it hard to hide the matter from him,” she lamented.
“He is suffering from severe health problems and even the courts have asked the prison department to give the best medical treatment to Madani. But the prison officials have not taken him to the hospital since last July, though the doctors who treated him have advised further treatment to him. They are not giving him medicines, and we are sending them from Kerala. Due to their apathy, his vision is deteriorated because of diabetes,” Sufiya said.
Rubbishing the allegations levelled against Madani in the chargesheet, she said: “I had to sell a house to pay the fees of advocates who argued for him in the Coimbatore blast case, and we are living in a rented house now. After going through such a hard time, no one wants to invite trouble again. The police have made baseless allegations in the chargesheet.”
Sufiya said, “I strongly suspect that some people are conspiring to ensure that Madani will remain behind bars forever. I don’t know how they will be benefited by this.”