Srinagar, September 25 :With annual exams less than a month away, they have unnecessarily wasted my 12 days of study.” These were the first words of Shariq Ahmed to his father when he was released by the Jammu and Kashmir Police at Kishtwar last night, less than 24 hours after the cops had secured his remand for a further six days.
Having spent a harrowing time waiting for his 15-year-old son, picked up for the September 7 Delhi High Court blast, Mohd Rafi said even the cops acknowledged Shariq was a “brilliant” child. “My son is hale and hearty,” said the relieved forest department employee.
Senior Superintendent of Police Bhim Sen Tuti called Rafi to his office to take the boy home last night. “The SSP told me your child is very brilliant and that they had kept him separate from the other two suspects,” Rafi said.
He added that Shariq was arrested as Abid Hussain, who is now in NIA custody for the blast, was a neighbour. The police had come to apprehend Abid, Rafi claimed, and Shariq was picked up as Abid led the cops to their house.
A Class XI student of Islamia Faridia Higher Secondary School, Shariq cleared his Class VIII and Class X boards with distinction.
“Papa, I had been telling them that 5 pm-7 pm is my tuition time, but they did not leave me,” Rafi says Shariq told him.
On a timetable that Shariq has himself prepared, he has listed his daily schedule for school, tuitions, studies at home. It even has an half-hour slot that he spends with his 70-year-old grandmother Shafiqa. He is the eldest of Rafi’s three children. While a younger brother is a student of Class X, his sister is in Class VI.