MUMBAI, Sept. 8 -- "I am struggling to find work," says Sajid Ansari, 49. Unlike millions of Mumbaiites grappling with a crowded job market, Ansari has another disadvantage. A former life convict in the Mumbai train blasts case, he must shed the tag of a "terror case accused" before he finds his footing again. Ansari is one of 12 men acquitted on July 21, when the Bombay High Court set aside the judgement of a special court, which had convicted them in the July 11, 2006, serial train blasts that claimed 188 lives. Seven were awarded life terms, five the death sentence. Imprisoned in jails across the state, ten of them walked free after 19 years, while one died in jail and one remains in prison, implicated in another case. Many are middle-aged now, one was married only a year before he was arrested, and a third last saw his daughter when she was just two. Sajid Ansari was serving a life term in the Nashik Central Prison. Before he was arrested in 2006, he ran a mobile phone repair shop in Jogeshwari. Ansari was just 30 then. Whereas he once repaired simple digital phones, he learnt to use a smartphone only after his release from prison in July. "With this tag, at my age, and with no experience, almost every field is new to me," says the Mira Roa resident. Ansari's heart is now set on practising law but it will take another 18 months to complete his LLB degree, to be able to practise. "For 19 years, I felt like a burden on my family. Now that I am out of prison, I no longer want to feel like that." Asif Khan, 53, is back in his home town Jalgaon, which he barely recognises today. "People recognise me and greet me but I don't recognise them. I've been set back by 20 years," says the former death-row convict. A civil engineer, Shaikh lived in Mira Road before his arrest and worked with a real estate developer in Kandivali. After he was acquitted, he asked his former employer if he could be taken back. "They did not respond as I hoped they would. I am thinking of starting my own construction business in Jalgaon," he says. A father of three, his youngest daughter was only two-and-half years old when he was arrested in 2006. Ehtesham Siddiqui, 43, was on death row in Nagpur Central Prison for a decade, but he never once let his spirit flag. Instead, he used the time to earn 22 certifications from Indira Gandhi National Open University, an MBA degree, and he completed five semesters of a law course. After his acquittal on July 21, he is looking forward to taking the exam for the final semester in November - for the first time without a police guard. "I am in the process of writing a book about my experience in jail," Siddiqui told HT from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, over the phone. While on death row, Siddique got his first book published. Titled 'Horror Saga', it was a lyrical ballad written from jail. "After I get my LLB degree, I could practise law in Lucknow, Delhi or Mumbai," said Siddiqui, who prefers to live close to his ageing parents in UP. "Being on death row can do terrible things to a person. Some could not sleep even though they took sleeping pills, but I was determined to keep learning and making the best use of my time in jail because I knew justice would prevail," says Siddique. Dr Tanveer Ansari, 50, has perhaps been most successful in getting back to work. He was reappointed as a medical registrar at a hospital in Mazgaon, where he worked before his arrest. "Due to the tag we carry, it was a struggle initially. For every two people on my side, there were ten against me. But I eventually satisfied them with my answers, which is when I could get my job back," he told HT. Ansari is working extra hours to catch up with technology and other changes at work. "I have had to learn many things but that's all right. Sometimes, I return home at 12:30 am," says Ansari, who lives in Byculla. "When you are innocent and still in jail for so many years, you can slip into depression. My medical background helped me stay aware of this and I knew I should not let that happen." Now in his forties, Muzammil Ataur Rehman Shaikh, another life convict released in the case, has been quite busy since July. His brother Faizal, a former death row convict also among the accused acquitted in the case, continues to be lodged in Pune's Yerwada Jail as he is wanted in another case. "I haven't really had the time to think about what to do since my release. I have been frequenting our lawyer's office and the courts to secure my brother's release on bail. So I haven't really spent much time at home or made any plans," says Muzammil, an engineer arrested from Bengaluru by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in 2006. He has been back home in Mira Road since his release from prison. Mohammed Ali, 56, is struggling with pain in his left knee. When it began 18 months ago, he was still a life convict in the Nagpur Central Prison. "When I was in jail, I was taken to the doctor to get it checked. Par jail toh jail hota hai (But a prison is a prison, after all)," says Ali. Once a supplier of an ayurvedic medicine for teething children, Ali is relieved that his two sons, aged 30 and 21, are employed. He is back home in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi. "I am unable to do much with the knee pain, so I mainly stay at home. My children got me a phone and I am learning to use it. It has so many things in it but it's been 19 years and I've slowed down. I am relearning slowly." Abdul Wahid Sheikh, a teacher in a school in Byculla, was the only accused acquitted in the Mumbai train blasts case by the trial court, a decade ago. Recently, Sheikh, who founded the Innocence Network, visited Ansari's grave in Nagpur's Jaripatka Qabrastan, with Ansari's younger brother who lives in Delhi, and read out paragraph 1,486 of the Bombay High Court's judgment of July 21 acquitting him. Kamal Ahmed Ansari, who ran a chicken shop and sold vegetables in Madhubani, Bihar, was the only one of the 12 who did not live to see his acquittal. He died in jail in 2021 at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic....