Srinagar, Nov 13: Family members of incarcerated Kashmir University student Muhammad Rafiq Shah have launched an online campaign to gain support for his release.
 Shah, a resident of Alesteng in Srinagar, was arrested on November 21, 2005 for his alleged involvement in pre-Diwali blasts in New Delhi in same year. He has been languishing in Tihar jail since.
 Shah’s mother, Mehmooda, launched the online petition addressed to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, pleading that her son was “falsely implicated” in the case and was not being released “despite evidence in his favour.”
 “My son, Muhammad Rafiq Shah, was arrested on 21 November 2005. He has been in Tihar Jail for seven years despite evidence supporting the fact that he is innocent. He has been falsely implicated in the pre-Diwali blasts in Delhi in 2005,” reads the petition on change.org: world's largest platform for submitting petitions online.
 “My son,” she writes, “had never visited Delhi and was in the Kashmir University when the blasts happened. The state and central agencies have found nothing against him.”
 The security agencies have been claiming that Shah was present in Delhi at the time of blast, while the family has produced his attendance records suggesting that he was in the class in Kashmir University.
 “The then VC of KU, Prof Abdul Wahid, and even Prof Riyaz Punjabi after him have provided the attendance register confirming Rafiq's presence in the university on the said dates. Despite all evidence confirming my son's innocence he is still languishing in jail,” she pleads.
 Mehmooda has appealed everyone to sign the petition for more support to his son’s release, and already more than 100 supporters from across the world, including many from India, have signed it.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST