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Mumbai: Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh’s children were barely in school when he was arrested for his alleged role in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train blast case.

For over a decade, as the trial continued before the special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court in Mumbai, police from various departments visited Ali’s house every Thursday to inquire about his whereabouts.

Mohammad Ali. Photo: By arrangement.

“My father was in their custody, yet they would visit us and ask innocuous questions every week,” says one of his sons. The visits gradually became less frequent in 2015 when the MCOCA court convicted Ali along with 11 others. Ali was sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, a decade later, just as one of Ali’s sons completed his education and found a job in the city, the police visits resumed. In a complaint to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Ali’s wife, Saidunnisha, stated that unidentified police officers visit their residence and ask about Ali’s whereabouts, despite him having been in jail for nearly 20 years.

The harassment has intensified, with police also contacting the sons and repeatedly asking the same questions. “These questions make little sense to us, but we know that this is their roundabout way of signalling that we are under constant watch,” says Ali’s elder son.

This scrutiny extends beyond Mohammed Ali’s family to nearly everyone involved in the case, including Abdul Wahid Shaikh, who was acquitted of all charges and released in 2015.

Abdul Wahid Shaikh at his house. Photo: File/The Wire.

Shaikh is now a teacher at one of South Mumbai’s oldest Urdu schools and recently submitted his doctoral thesis on prisoners’ rights. He describes the ongoing harassment he and his family endure despite his........

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