New Delhi: The recent acquittal of renowned TV host Suhaib Ilyasi, after 18 long years, has not turned him cold towards the law or his in-laws says Ilyasi who thinks jail was more like a university.
Ilyas who is acquitted after 18 years, says he did lose his “precious time”, but his daughter Aaliya “suffered the most” as she was just a minor child but still tried to convince every one of his innocence, TOI reported.
Recalling his experience in Jail, Ilyasi said: “It was like a university, which taught me how to be a better person. I interacted with people who had committed heinous crimes; people who were in shackles. But they all had a different side to their personalities.”
When asked whether he came across any of those 135 criminals India’s most wanted got arrested? He replied, “There were inmates who had either watched my show or whose accomplices had been nabbed because of the show, but they all felt that I had only done my job.”
“To have helped put criminals behind bars and then, to see myself behind them is something I cannot forget,” he recalls of times when he rested this head on the bars of the jail.
Speaking of his in-laws, he said, Ilyasi’s father-in-law trusted him even though his deceased wife’s mother and sister pursued the case against him.
“He had bought a gun in the 1950s when he moved to Canada. Two years ago, he went to the DCP licensing (office) here and transferred it in my name. Why would anyone gift something so precious to a man who has killed their daughter?”Ilyasi asks.
Speaking of his daughter Aaliya’s faith in him, he said: “The trauma she faced was much more than mine. I was an adult, but she was just a child. I am really happy that she has turned out to be very responsible, independent and confident. She is just like her mother.”
He also had to go through another battle for his daughter’s custody he said.
His mother-in-law and sister-in-law loved Anju very much and wanted to express their love for Aaliya in a similar way.
“They sought her custody on the argument that she could not be safe with a killer father… The contention was to take Aaliya’s custody on the basis of the murder allegations.”
Now on the work front, Ilyasi is returning back to TV with his daughter Aaliyah as a co-host.