Arya Samaj

Shishya · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: Delhi Raid Plotter Wants Clemency

Delhi Raid Plotter Wants Clemency
by
Suvojit Bagchi
BBC News, Delhi

A man facing execution for helping militants in an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 will file a mercy petition to the President APJ Kalam.

Mohammed Afzal's wife has already filed a mercy plea with the president. The execution of Afzal, due on Friday at Delhi's Tihar jail, has been deferred until the president takes a decision, officials say. Now Afzal will file a petition "personally" to the president, his lawyer Nandita Haksar told the BBC. There were violent protests in Indian-administered Kashmir police last month against the court order to hang Afzal, a Kashmiri man. Ms Haskar said Afzal may be filing his mercy petition by next week.

An official of the Indian interior ministry said Afzal "cannot be executed on Friday" as it was going through the mercy petition handed over to the ministry by the president's office. According to Indian laws, any mercy plea filed to the president is routed to the interior ministry and then to the federal cabinet of ministers. The cabinet then conveys its recommendations to the president. Although the president is not bound to follow the cabinet's recommendations, he can act on the petition only after receiving them. Lawyers say a convict facing death sentence cannot be hanged till his or her mercy petition is rejected.

Acquittal

Afzal, 39, was due to be hanged on 20 October in Tihar Jail in Delhi. His conviction was upheld in a ruling by the Supreme Court last year. If Mr Afzal is executed, he will be the second Kashmiri to be hanged for separatist activities.

In 1984, the founder leader of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, was hanged on charges of killing an Indian intelligence official. The December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi was one of the most controversial incidents in recent Indian history. Five gunmen shot dead nine people in the parliament grounds, before being killed. Mohammed Afzal was one of two men sentenced to death. But the punishment for Shaukat Hussain was later reduced to 10 years in jail on appeal. Two other two accused in the case, SAR Geelani and Afsan Guru, were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

India blamed the attack on the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which it said was backed by Pakistan. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack but relations between the two countries seriously deteriorated in the following months. At its worse the two sides amassed some one million troops in confrontation along their border.

(Source)

Mitra · Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject: Update

Parliament attack victims’ kin return medals
Deccan Chronicle

The families of securitymen who died in the 2001 Parliament terror attack returned the gallantry medals which they received in honour of the slain personnel on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the attack.

The families demanded the execution of Mohammed Afzal, who has been convicted in the case. The families, who were accompanied by the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chief M.S. Bitta, returned the medals to the Rashtrapati Bhavan as a mark of protest over the delay in carrying out the sentence.
The families expressed shock over Union home minister Shivraj Patil’s remarks that they were being provoked by the BJP over the Afzal row.

In Parliament, there were also heated exchanges where the Opposition BJP-Shiv Sena combine raked up the issue, saying it was a national shame that the gallantry medals were being returned. They staged a walkout, accusing the government of not showing due respect to the martyrs.
On Wednesday morning, parliamentarians, led by vice-president and Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, paid homage at the spot where nine security personnel laid down their lives at the hands of five Pakistani-trained terrorists on this day on 2001.

A little later, the widows, along with their children and other members of the families of eight security personnel, who were present at the Parliament House commemorative function, went to Rashtrapati Bhavan and surrendered the medals given to their husbands posthumously.

Asserting that they were not being misled by the BJP, the widow of sub-inspector Nanak Chand, Ms Ganga Devi, after emerging out of the presidential palace, said, “We did not order execution of Afzal. It’s the court that has ordered it. But this vile politics over his death sentence, which is being delayed, has led us to return these medals.”

They held a placard that contained photographs of all the slain security personnel. The families returned the medals to an official at Rashtrapati Bhavan, saying they should be placed in the National Museum until Afzal is executed. “We will take back these medals after Afzal is hanged,” widow of head constable Vijender Singh, Jayawati Singh said after returning the medal to a Rashtrapati Bhavan director. The families also ruled out accepting honours from any political parties in the wake of the BJP’s plans in this regard.

(Source)

Mitra · Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:31 pm Post subject:

Meanwhile, Afzal Guru has filed, as last resort ,a curative plea in the Supreme Court asking for a review of the judgement. He say she did not get a fair trial the last time. The Supreme Court had earlier denied a similar plea.

Others in the case are - Shaukat Hussain Guru -he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for not disclosing before the police about the conspiracy to attack Parliament; Delhi University lecturer S.A.R. Gillani- he was acquitted as also the wife of Shaukat Hussain - Navjot Sandhu alias Afshan Guru.

Earlier, Afzal’s wife had petitioned the President seeking mercy for him. Afzal had claimed that he would not seek mercy as it would tantamount to admission of guilt.

(Source)
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