Four years and eight months after being arrested on charges of harbouring links with Naxalites, Arun Ferreira is finally out on bail. The activist, who flew back to his Mumbai home, said he wants to spend time with his wife and child.
Ferreira was arrested in May 2007 after eight cases under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act were lodged against him.
In due time, he was acquitted in all of them. On September 23, 2011, he was acquitted in the last case relating to the arrest of 11 Chandrapur students facing similar charges in 2008. As there were no other cases against him, he was set to be released on September 27, but was abducted by unidentified persons.
Following which his lawyer Surendra Gadling was told that his client had been taken to Purada police station and arrested in Crime No. 14/2007 i.e. a case registered in 2007, when Ferreira was already in prison.
No wonder, his family fears that the police may still find some excuse to throw the activist behind bars yet again.
“We don’t want him to interact with the media. Let him reach home and spend some time with his wife and child. He may talk to the media later,” said a family member requesting anonymity.
Earlier, Ferreira didn’t take questions from the media posse outside the Nagpur jail even as his family members were seen whisking him away to the airport for a Mumbai flight.
