Shahana Begum, wife of convicted Musarat Hussain. Picture by Amit Datta

Muzahir Hassan keeps looking back. Outside Presidency jail, he still cannot believe that son Adil has been sentenced to death.

Around 5.30 pm, Muzahir Hassan trudges out of Presidency jail, barely able to walk after hearing the death penalty awarded to his son.

Adil Hassan is charged with arranging safe houses for Sadaquat and Zahid (both absconding) in Hazaribagh, along with Jamiluddin Nasir, another accused implicated in the case. ?My son is innocent, he has been framed. We will fight this in the higher court and will not give up so easily,? cries Hassan, camping in Calcutta for the past few days.

Kafil Alam, brother-in-law of Hasrat Alam, found guilty of drawing up a contingency escape route across the border to Bangladesh after the terror strike, cuts a forlorn figure at Presidency jail.

?Hasrat is a poor man and does not have any link with any terrorist organisation. We have been fighting this case for the past three years and now we are all exhausted. We never thought that he would be awarded the death sentence,? he adds.

Pervez Alam was shocked when his son Rehan was arrested for allegedly helping the killers enter Hazaribagh after the American Center strike on January 22, 2002.

After hearing the verdict, he finds it impossible to believe that Rehan will hang. ?The law says that a guilty person might get away scot-free, but never should an innocent man get wrongly implicated. This is exactly what has happened in my son?s case. I am deeply disappointed,? says Pervez, who owns a jewellery shop in Hazaribagh.

?Over six persons who have direct links with the attack are at large, but the police have made up for their failure by making false charges against my son,? adds Pervez, before walking away towards his waiting relatives.

When the CID freed Shakir Akhtar, days after arresting him in the Parthapratim Roy Burman abduction case, his brother Javed was jubilant.

Today, he cannot hold back his tears. ?There was no case against him in the abduction, and he was equally innocent in the American Center case, but the law thought otherwise. Not a single witness could raise a finger at my brother. Yet, he finds himself staring at death. If this is not injustice, what is?? said Javed.

?This is not justice,? shouted Shahana Begum, wife of convicted Musarat Hussain.