Their ordeal is over, but not the nightmare. Having spent 10-odd days in jail for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in the Champions Trophy, Anees Babu Mansoori shudders at what he had to endure in prison.

“We were made to clean toilets and drains in the Khandwa jail and were called traitors by the jail inmates. When we entered the jail, nearly a dozen senior jail inmates slapped each one of us and abused us,” recollected Mansoori, a tailor by profession.

Mansoori was among 15 locals of Burhanpur – some 350km from Bhopal – who were picked up by the police and charged with sedition hours after India lost to Pakistan in a one-sided game on June 18. The police claimed the Muslim men had burst crackers and then shouted pro-Pakistan slogans after the match.