Mumbai: A celebratory mood pervades the ground-floor modest Maharashtra unit office of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind, off a narrow street near Mughal Mosque in Dongri. Its legal team, which doggedly fought the case of the 12 convicts in the 11/7 serial train blasts case for nearly two decades, is busy greeting well-wishers.“We cannot describe the happiness after the acquittal of these 12 innocent men. We share the pain of the families of the blasts’ victims, but justice can be done only when the real culprits are punished,” said Jamiat’s Maharashtra unit president Maulana Halimullah Qasmi.Now that the state govt has challenged the Bombay high court verdict in Supreme Court, Qasmi said, Jamiat will fight the case there too. “We need to receive formal requests from the families of the men who spent 19 years in jail.”Founded in 1919 to oppose British rule with the blessings of scholar Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan, the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind emerged as a nationalist organisation of Muslim religious leaders, mostly subscribing to the Deoband school of thought. It opposed Jinnah’s theory of two nations and, post-Independence, championed social harmony and welfare. The Jamiat is one of the petitioners in SC opposing the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025. Taking up the cause of “innocents framed in terror cases” has grown into a broad legal activity post-2000, especially in Malegaon, Mumbai, Aurangabad and Akshardham, where a series of terror attacks took place and investigators made numerous arrests and detentions.With two crore members, including 22 lakh in Maharashtra, Jamiat is one of the largest Muslim organisations in the country — membership costs only Rs 2. So far, Jamiat has secured 306 acquittals and 227 bail orders. Currently it is involved with around 100 cases involving nearly 500 accused, including 85 on death row and 125 serving life imprisonment.Recalling the organic manner in which its activities grew, advocate Shahid Nadeem, who is on the Jamiat’s legal panel, said the impetus came when advocate Shahid Azmi, who was killed in 2010, met the organisation secretary (legal), Gulzar Azmi, when the latter’s two sons were in jail in a MCOCA case. The duo met Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi to seek help for the 11/7 suspects. Azmi agreed to partially foot the legal bill and Jamiat president Maulana Arshad Madni ensured the rest of the expenses were met through community donations. The Jamiat split into two factions in 2008, with Madni’s nephew Maulana Mahmood Madni leading the other faction, but the legal outreach continued. A battery of lawyers, led by Yug Mohit Chaudhary, finally managed to secure the acquittals in HC.Recalling the organic manner in which its activities grew, advocate Shahid Nadeem who is on the Jamiat’s legal panel, said the impetus came when advocate Shahid Azmi (who was killed in 2010) met the organisation secretary (legal), Gulzar Azmi. Shahid approached the secretary at a time when the latter’s own two sons were in jail in a MCOCA case. Shahid and Gulzar Azmi together met Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi to seek help for the 7/11 suspects. Azmi agreed to partially foot the legal bill while the Jamiat’s all-India president Maulana Arshad Madni ensured the rest of the expenses were met through community donations.The Jamiat split into two factions in 2008, with Madni’s nephew Maulana Mahmood Madni leading the other faction, but the legal outreach continued. A battery of lawyers, led by Yug Mohit Chaudhary, finally managed to secure the acquittals in the Bombay high court, where the case was admitted in 2015. As they prepare for the next phase of the legal battle, the Jamiat realises there is a long way to go. “Though happy at the acquittals, we are also shocked at the urgency of the state govt in challenging the HC verdict in Supreme Court,” said Nadeem.
