Ramadan charity seeks to free 'innocent' Indian Muslims

One of India's leading Islamic organizations is using the traditional "Zakat" (Ramadan donation) to give legal aid to Muslim youths languishing in jail on serious charges like terrorism, the BBC reported Thursday.

The story of Nisar-ud-din Ahmad, who was acquitted of terror charges and released from jail 23 years after he was arrested, gripped India in June.

Ahmad said that he rued his "lost" life and said that even his newly procured freedom could not give him happiness.

The story of delayed justice made headlines across the country, but unfortunately Ahmad's plight is hardly unusual.

Many Indian Muslim youths are fated to spend years in prison on charges like terrorism and "waging war against the nation" until courts clear them, often many years later.

Part of the delay is their inability to pay expensive legal fees, or find someone to take up their cases.

But one of of India's leading ulema (Islamic scholars) organizations, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, has used the community's Ramadan Zakat funds to try and change this situation.

The Jamiat has so far spent 20m rupees ($300,000; £243,167) on court cases in this regard. 

The Jamiat tasted its first major success in this effort two years ago when all six men convicted for an attack on a famous temple in Gujarat in 2002 were freed by the Supreme Court.

Source: MENA