Parliament raid professor 'framed'

Mr Geelani, now reunited with family, spent nearly two years in jail

A Delhi college lecturer, who spent two years in prison after being wrongly convicted of helping plan an attack on the Indian parliament, has said he was framed by the police.

Professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, who is from Kashimir, was acquitted by the High Court in Delhi on the grounds of insufficient evidence on Wednesday.

"There is a criminal nexus between the police and the people in the judiciary which needs to be exposed for the sake of survival of democracy in India," Mr Geelani told journalists hours after he was freed on Thursday.

Mr Geelani said he wanted a peaceful solution to the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir.

Asked whether he favoured complete indepedence for Kashmir, Mr Geelani said: "If the people of Kashmir want independence, I am with them."

Nine people were shot dead when five gunmen burst into the grounds of the parliament in December 2001. The gunmen were also killed in the attack.

Further appeals

The High Court also threw out the conviction of a woman sentenced to five years in prison for failing to report the plot.

However, two Kashmiri Muslims given the death penalty for their roles had their sentences upheld.

The court rejected the appeals of Shaukat Hussain Guru and Mohammed Afzal, who had been convicted of waging war on the state and conspiracy to murder.

Fourteen people died, including the five gunmen, in the attack

They were accused of membership of the Kashmiri militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The sentences, handed down in December last year, were the first under India's tough new Prevention of Terrorism Act.

A further round of appeals to the Supreme Court is possible. Police are studying Wednesday's court order to decide their next move.

About 300 MPs and government leaders were in the parliament building when it was attacked.

The gunmen were killed before they could enter the building.

India claimed Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency was behind the attack.

Pakistan condemned the raid and denied involvement.

After the attack, the nations mobilised up to a million men along their common border, leading to international concern about a possible war.

The tension has eased recently with an exchange of ambassadors, the resumption of a Delhi-Lahore bus service and further Indian proposals to improve ties.