Mohammad Amir Khan was picked by Delhi police officials on charges of terror crimes from a lane near his home in old Delhi in February 1998.

Incarcerated for 14-years, Khan was acquitted of the charges in 2012. According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the actions of the state authorities marred “14 prime and precious years” of a man’s life. It directed the Delhi government to pay Rs five lakh to Khan as interim relief.

According to the Indian Express, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Vigilance, in his inquiry report to the NHRC, said that Khan was arrested in cases related to a series of bomb blasts in Delhi and its adjoining states in 1996-1997. While Khan was convicted in two cases and in two other cases, appeals against his acquittal were pending before the Delhi High Court.

However, the Commission observed that the reply to the show-cause notice was not based on merits. “The notice was issued on the point of acquittal of the victim in 18 cases by the courts and long incarceration of the victim in prison. The commission is not concerned with appeals pending in two cases. The fact is the victim had to spend 14 years in prison for no reason, violating his rights … recommends that Rs 5, 00,000 as interim relief be paid to him.” The NHRC said that the victim’s acquittal in 18 of 20 cases is “astonishing acknowledgement of the lack of evidence.” 

The Commission noted that when Khan was in jail, he lost his father and his mother “became paralysed due to shock and trauma and later died”.