Shiney Ahuja would’ve been able to go home with wife to meet his daughter Arshiya in Delhi on Thursday itself, but for the bail papers not being ready, and then Gandhi Jayanti occurred the next day.
“So we had to wait till Saturday. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve waited three months for Shiney to be released. I don’t mind waiting one more day,” said the lately-incarcerated man’s ecstatic wife Anupam.
.JPG "Shiney Ahuja at the launch of Cinemax in Faridabad, Hariyana on August 22nd 2008 (10)")
Anupam Ahuja doesn’t know how to react to the bail plea being accepted. “It just goes to prove that the law of the country is always trustworthy. I’ve a feeling Shiney will never have to go back (to jail). God has tested us enough. If he has been suffering inside, I’ve been suffering outside.”
Shiney can’t wait to be united with his daughter Arshiya. “Do you know when I last met Shiney in court in 25 September he was in acute pain. I think he was doing something in jail when something in his back got severely strained. He told me he had dreamt of our daughter. And the same day my parents in Delhi told me Arshiya had woken up calling out, ‘Papa’. I saw that as a premonition for Shiney’s freedom.”
The fact that Shiney won’t be able to stay in Mumbai is not seen by his wife as a damper. “Why should I be unhappy about such a small matter when I’ve got my husband back and our daughter has got her father back? We’ll be just fine in Delhi. I see our life coming together again, with the good wishes of our friends, like (filmmaker) Ashok Pundit who has been a brother to me through this trying period.”
Now begins the process of Shiney’s re-acclimatization to normal civil life. “He needs to heal physically and emotionally. Now begins the second phase of my struggle. But you know what? I can’t seem to feel any bitterness. God is great. The judiciary system in our country is great.”
