Ahmedabad: Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri, sentenced to death in the 2002 Akshardham temple attack case, but later the verdict was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2014, and he was acquitted.
Mansuri was speaking at a function organised on Sunday by Sarvoday Youth Welfare Society, a private trust to honoured him by dedicating a diary.
Mansuri said India was “far better” for Muslims and any Islamic country, including Pakistan. “No Muslim is feeling ashamed of living in India.”
Thinking back to his days behind bars for a crime he never committed, Mansuri said, “When a prisoner is freed from jail, his past always haunt him.”
“It was more of Hindu friends and lawyers who defended and supported me more than the Muslims,” he said.
Natubhai Parmar, president of the Sarvoday Youth Welfare Society said the trust offer service to people across religious and community lines every year and for 27 years, the group dedicates its diary to a prominent personality.
(With inputs from Indian Express)