Granted bail by the HC in February, Nadeem Shaikh represents four undertrials and says he’s proud to wear the lawyer’s robes

Updated on: Sep 6, 2026, 20:46:01 IST

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Mumbai: When Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh, 36, walked into a cafe in February this year to buy a bottle of water, it suddenly dawned on him that he was all alone, unaccompanied by jail guards, and free to go where he wanted and do what he wished.

“For 14 years before that, guards would accompany me wherever I went, be it to the court to appear for my trial, or to the law college in Thane to appear for my exams. They would maintain strict vigil over me and take me back to jail as soon as things got done,” Shaikh, an accused in the 13/7 serial blasts in the city that left 27 dead, told .

Granted bail by the Bombay High Court on February 10, Shaikh decided to use his freedom and the knowledge about law that he had acquired as an undertrial and while pursuing an LLB degree from jail to defend other accused. He applied for a Sanad (enrolment certificate) to practise as a lawyer and soon after receiving the certificate from the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, donned the lawyers’ black robes and started appearing in court.

“It felt great to wear the lawyer’s uniform and appear before the court for the first time. A senior lawyer who had seen me as an undertrial in court was so happy to see me in the uniform that he gave me ₹500 as a gesture of goodwill. That moment made me feel proud of myself for the first time in over a decade,” Shaikh said, thanking the Constitution for giving him the right to study law while in jail.

Studying in jail

Born in Darbhanga, Bihar, Nadeem moved to Mumbai in 2002 with his family and lived in Byculla. He began working alongside a relative who owned a small SIM card business while in school and later, enrolled for a BCom degree. While in college, he also took up part-time work at a leading pizza delivery chain.

On July 13, 2011, a series of bomb blasts in Opera House, Zaveri Bazar and Dadar left 27 people dead and 127 others injured. The blasts were allegedly masterminded by Yasin Bhatkal, chief operational commander of the alleged terror group Indian Mujahideen, and Shaikh was one of the 11 people named as accused in the case.

“Some of the accused had bought SIM cards from my relative’s business and since I used to work alongside them, my whole life was turned upside down,” Shaikh recalled.

Then 22 years old, Shaikh was booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and other stringent laws, arrested from Nagpada in January 2012 and remanded in the high security Arthur Road jail. Since jail inmates were allowed to pursue select courses under an open university facility, he enrolled for a BA degree in 2014, and later in 2019, appeared for the State Common Entrance Test (CET), eventually securing admission at a law college in Thane.

With the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind helping him with education expenses, Shaikh began studying on his own in jail. He travelled to the college in Thane during exams, always with prior permission from the court and accompanied by police escorts, for which he had to pay separately.

Earning inmates’ trust

Meanwhile, after the sessions court rejected his bail plea in 2017, he moved the high court and began assisting Advocate Anas K Shaikh, who was representing him.

“In Nadeem’s case, the prosecution wanted to examine over 400 witnesses. But it was actually able to examine only 167 witnesses over a decade even as Nadeem lost his father,” Anas Shaikh said.

For undertrials in high profile cases, careers, relationships, and health took a beating in the wait for justice, the lawyer said. “Years pass, parents grow old and die without seeing their children while children grow up seeing their parent through a mesh screen,” he said.

Finally, in February this year, the court granted bail to Shaikh, observing that there was no likelihood of the trial being completed in the near future, and paving the way for his transition into a criminal lawyer.

The first case Shaikh took up after receiving his Sanad in July was that of a murder accused. He subsequently took up three more cases, including one in which he appears pro bono, and has earned ₹50,000 in fees so far.

Shaikh’s own pending trial in a terror case, he said, did not put his clients off. “In fact, jail inmates know that I understand their issues better than other lawyers,” he said.

His release from jail and transition into a criminal lawyer has also brought him closer to his family, including his three brothers and a sister.

“I deliberately stayed away from them when I was in jail as I did not want them to suffer further, after the stigma of me being made an accused in a terror case,” he said. Over the past few months, he had been spending a lot of time with his family, trying to make up for the lost years.

“It’s a nice feeling,” he said. “Especially since I am now on a journey to prove that I am not the person that I was portrayed to be.”

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