By Ajit Sahi8/7/12, Newzfirst

 

ALLAHABAD – Human rights activists and journalists Seema Azad and her husband, Vishwavijay, Tuesday stepped out of Allahabad‘s prison 30 months after they were arrested on February 6, 2010 on charges of being Maoist rebels.

“This was sudden and unexpected,” a beaming Azad told her parents, siblings and friends of the decision of the Allahabad High Court a day earlier to grant them bail.

The duo had been convicted on June 8 of the charges and sentenced to life in prison. But the high court judges, Dharnidhar Jha and Ashokpal Singh, wrote that “no evidence of waging war against state was available”, and granted them bail.

The family had waited for an hour outside the jail in the rain before Azad and Vishwavijay stepped out. She touched the feet of her parents who were both visibly quiet and smiling. As if on cue, the rain had stopped by then.

Azad and Vijay, wife and husband, were given life imprisonment each on June 8 by a sessions court here. The judge had found them guilty of being members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The couple denied the charge.

Police here had arrested the duo on February 6, 2010 as Azad returned from New Delhi where she was visiting An international book fair. Her husband, who had gone to fetch her from the railway station, too, was arrested.

They were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The prosecution claimed banned seditious literature had been found on the couple.