Mumbai: Fahim Ansari, who was acquitted in the 26/11 terror attack case, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking a 'police clearance certificate' to enable him to drive an auto rickshaw for his livelihood.

The special court, on May 6, 2010, convicted lone Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the case and acquitted the two Indian men accused in the case – Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed – citing lack of evidence.

Ansari and Ahmed were accused of being co-conspirators and aiding and abetting terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in conducting the dastardly attacks on November 26, 2008 that killed 166 persons and injured hundred others.

Their acquittal was upheld by the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court too. However, Ansari was convicted and sentenced to ten years in jail in another case of Uttar Pradesh. He was released from jail in 2019 after serving his sentence.

Ansari approached the HC after the police refused to grant him police clearance certificate. The certificate is mandatory for plying an auto-rickshaw for commercial purpose. His pela contended that the decision was “arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory” as the same violated his fundamental rights for livelihood. “The petitioner is legally entitled to engage in gainful employment, free from any legal blemish or barriers,” the plea said.

Further, Ansari has claimed that just because he was tried for the 26/11 terror attack case, the same cannot act as a blanket ban that disentitles him from availing job opportunities, especially when he has been acquitted by all courts. His plea seeks direction to the authorities to issue him a police clearance certificate.

According to Ansari, after being released from jail in 2019, he secured a job at a printing press in Mumbai but that shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thereafter he got a job in a printing press in Mumbra. However, since the income was low, Ansari applied for a three-wheeler auto-rickshaw license, which he got on January 1, 2024.

Thereafter, he applied for the mandatory Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), which is mandatory for plying an auto-rickshaw for commercial purposes. As he did not receive any response, he filed an Right to Information application, in response to which he was informed that the certificate could not be issued to him as he was accused of being a member of LeT.

The petition came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela Gokhale, which recused itself. The plea will now come up for hearing on March 17 before a bench headed by Justice Sarang Kotwal.

According to the prosecution, Ansari and Ahmed had prepared maps of the city and handed the same to the alleged conspirators and masterminds of the attack in Pakistan. The sessions court while acquitting them, however, noted that better maps were available online.