Shahid Azmi
Shahid Azmi (1977 – 11 February 2010) was an Indian lawyer and human rights activist.
Shahid Azmi | |
|---|---|
Shahid Azmi | |
| Born | Shahid Azmi 1977 |
| Died | 11 February 2010 (aged 32) |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupations | |
Azmi was accused of crime at a young age; in 1992, aged 15, he was arrested for violence during the 1992 Bombay riots. Let off lightly as a juvenile, and due to lack of any proper evidence against him. As a young adult, he was again arrested, this time under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, for plotting against the state. He spent seven years in Delhi's Tihar Jail. In jail, he was encouraged to resume his education, and by the time he was released, he had taken a degree in law. In 2003, he began practising as a criminal defense lawyer in Mumbai. The cases handled by him were almost exclusively of defending cases for those accused of terrorism, who he believed had been jailed as scapegoats. He was shot dead by four assailants in his office in Kurla, Mumbai on 11 February 2010 at the age of 32.
Shahid Azmi was the nephew of Abu Asim Azmi, a Samajwadi Party politician and Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Govandi constituency in Mumbai.