NEW DELHI: Former Delhi University professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, who was sentenced to death by an Indian special court but later acquitted by India’s Supreme Court in the 2001 Parliament attack case, died on Thursday, his family said. “He passed away on Thursday evening due to cardiac arrest,” Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted a family member.

Geelani, who taught Arabic at Delhi University’s Zakir Hussain College, is survived by his wife and two daughters.

He was also charged with sedition in 2016, after he had organised an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Geelani was arrested in connection with the Parliament attack case but was acquitted for “need of evidence” by the Delhi High Court in October 2003, a decision upheld by India’s Supreme Court in August 2005.

Though the apex court had upheld the high court decision, it had remained “suspicious of his role”. PTI said Geelani’s counsel, lawyer Ram Jethmalani, had argued that the SC’s “unfortunate observations, even while acquitting him for want of evidence, were seriously affecting both his career and social life” but the court had rejected his plea.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2019