Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani and Afshan Guru, both acquitted in the Parliament attack case, walked out of prison after two years today. For both, it was bitterness and tragedy that drowned the first flush of freedom.While Geelani, watched on by his family and his friends, passionately talked about fighting for the ‘‘rights of Kashmiris,’’ Afshana stood alone in her lawyer’s office, fighting back tears.Hours after she left Tihar—where her husband Shaukat Hussain Guru is on death row—she heard the news of her grandmother’s death yesterday and braced for a future for herself and her child who had been born in prison.Both Geelani and Afshan were taken away by their lawyers after being released from jail, not allowed to speak to the press.Geelani, who spent the entire day with his family and lawyer before addressing a press conference, stopped many times to compose himself as he talked about how he had been ‘‘targeted because he was a Kashmiri’’ and his two years in solitary. ‘‘All the problems have made me stronger to stand against oppression and fight for justice for innocent Kashmiris languishing in jail. These are innocent Kashmiris who have become the victim of criminal elements,’’ he said. His lawyer Nandita Haksar alleged that several attempts were made on his life in jail.With Haksar and Rajni Kothari by his side, Geelani accused ‘‘fascist forces’’ of using the judiciary to ‘‘further their agenda.’’ The ‘‘politicisation of judiciary and criminalisation of police,’’ is going to ruin democracy, he said. On Kashmir, Geelani said he considered it a disputed territory where a peaceful solution had to be worked out. ‘‘If the people of Kashmir want freedom, then I am with them,’’ he said.Geelani, who thanked his DU colleagues and other friends who fought for him, criticized the role of the press. He claimed that the other two accused Mohd Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru—death sentences for both were upheld yesterday by the high court—didn’t get a ‘‘fair trial,’’ in the lower court.Afshan Guru, who was taken to her lawyer’s office after coming out of jail, could barely talk. ‘‘I am happy to be out,’’ she said bursting into tears. Standing alone in her lawyer’s chamber, Afshan said she now had to plan for her future and her child’s.Her child has been staying with her relatives. Her father had come to pick her up and had to give her the news that her grandmother passed away on the day of the High Court verdict.On wether she planned to go back to her parents in Punjab or in-laws at Kashmir, all she said: ‘‘I don’t know.’’
