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Afzal Guru

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Afzal Guru
Born
Mohammed Afzal Guru

Jammu and Kashmir, India
Died(2013-02-09)February 9, 2013
Delhi, India
NationalityIndian
Criminal statusExecuted by hanging at 8:00 a.m. (IST) on 9 February 2013
MotiveTerrorism
Conviction(s)Murder
Conspiracy
Waging war against India
Possession of explosives
Criminal penaltyDeath sentence

Mohammad Afzal Guru (Hanged 9 February 2013) was found guilty of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2002[citation needed]. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006, but Afzal was given a stay of execution and remained on death row. On 3 February 2013, his mercy petition was rejected by the Indian President. He was hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail around 08:00am on February 09, 2013. [1]

Early life

He belonged to Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.[2] He had completed the first year of his MBBS course and was preparing for competitive exams. However, he became a member of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front where he received terrorist training. Unhappy with the situation there, he moved back to Kashmir and surrendered to the Border Security Force.[3]

His native place is Sopore and he was doing a commission agency business. It was during this business venture that he came into contact with Tariq of Anantnag , who motivated him to join Jihad for liberation of Kashmir and assured him of financial assistance, Tariq introduced him to other millitants from Ghaziabad, Pakistan who were proclaimed offenders in Kashmir who further exhorted him to join the movement and apprised him of the mission to carry out attacks on important institutions in India like Parliament and Embassies and asked him to find a safe hideout for the 'Fidayeens' in Delhi

The Case

The attack was conducted jointly by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM). Seven members of the security forces, including a female constable, were killed, as were the five still incompletely identified men who carried out the attack.

Following were the charges against Afzal Guru:[2]

  • Recovery of explosives from his place of hideout in Delhi.
  • Conspiring to commit and knowingly facilitated the commission of a terrorist act or acts preparatory to terrorist act and also voluntarily harboured and concealed the deceased terrorists knowing that such persons were terrorists and were the members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned terrorist organisation, which is involved in acts of terrorism and hence committed an offence punishable Under Section 3(3) (4) and (5) of Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act.
  • Possession of ₹ 10 Lakhs given to him by the terrorists who were killed by the police when they had attacked the Parliament of India.

He was arrested along with Shaukat and later on explosives were found from their hideout in Delhi. Eighty witnesses were examined for the prosecution and ten were examined for defense. The judgment mentions:

"The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender."[4]

On December 19, 2001 he made a confession of the offenses which was recorded and was signed by him. He also confirmed having made the confessional statement without any threat or pressure.[5]

He was convicted for the offenses under Sections 121, 121A, 122, Section 120B read with Sections 302 & 307 read with Section 120B IPC, sub-Sections (2), (3) & (5) of Section 1, 3(4), 4(b)of POTA and Sections 3 & 4 of Explosive Substances Act. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment on as many as eight counts under the provisions of IPC, POTA and Explosive Substances Act in addition to varying amounts of fine.[6]

An appeal was made to the Delhi High Court but after going through the case and taking in consideration various authorities and precedents, the Court found that the conviction of Afzal Guru was safe and hence his appeal was dismissed.[2]

Clemency pleas

There was an appeal to issue clemency to Afzal from various human rights groups including political groups in Kashmir, who believe that Afzal Guru did not receive a fair trial and was subjected to a frame up of corrupt and inefficient police work[7]. Human rights activists in various parts of India and the world have demanded reprieve as they believe that the trial was flawed. Arundhati Roy and Praful Bidwai castigated the trial and argued that Afzal has been denied natural justice.[8] Accusations of human rights violations have been made by many.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and local political groups voiced their support of clemency for Afzal. It was alleged many have done so to appease Muslim voters in India.[9]

Communist Party of India (Marxist) was critical of both the Congress as well as of the BJP, and claimed it was delaying the legal procedure in the case accusing it of trying to whip up enmity between communities in the name of a crime done by a group of criminals. The party wants the law of the land to take its course without any interference.[10]

Ram Jethmalani held that it is completely within the President's power to commute the Death sentence and is not a mercy plea. He said, "It’s a misnomer to call it a mercy petition. It leads to total misunderstanding of the constitutional power. The constitutional power is that the President has the power to disagree with the Supreme Court both with its findings of fact and law."[11]

The Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party president and MP, Mehbooba Mufti commented that the Centre should pardon Afzal if Pakistan accepted the clemency appeal for Sarabjit Singh.[12] Mehbooba said that if clemency appeals were made for Sarabjit citing his Indian nationality, voices should also be raised for Afzal for "he too is an Indian citizen". "Two citizens of India cannot be treated with different yardsticks" she had said.

However, the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front Chairman Maninderjeet Singh Bitta urged the President of India not to accept any clemency pleas on Afzal's behalf. He warned that his organisation would launch agitations if Afzal was pardoned. He also criticised statements of various political leaders and blamed them for "encouraging activities of militants in Jammu and Kashmir".[13]

An India Today poll in late October showed that 78% of Indians supported the death penalty for Afzal[9]

On 12 November 2006, the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Lal Krishna Advani criticized the delay in carrying out the death sentence on Guru for the Parliament terror attack, saying, "I fail to understand the delay. They have increased my security. But what needs to be done immediately is to carry out the court's orders".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) severely criticized Arundhati Roy. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said:

"Those who are supporting Afzal by demanding that he should not be hanged are not only acting against public sentiment in the country but are giving a fillip to terrorist morale"[14]

On 23 June 2010, the Ministry of Home Affairs recommended the President's office to reject the mercy petition. On 7 January 2011, a whistle-blowing site indianleaks.in leaked a document which stated that the mercy petition file was not with President of India. This was rubbished by Kapil Sibal in a interview with NDTV.[15] This was confirmed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi on 23 Feb 2011. With the death penalty handed to Ajmal Kasab, the speculation was that Afzal Guru was next in line.[16]

On 10 August 2011, the home ministry of India rejected the mercy petition, and sent a letter to the President of India recommending the death penalty .[17]

On 7 September 2011, a high intensity bomb blast outside Delhi high court killed 11 people and left 76 others injured.[18] In an e-mail sent to a media house Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, an Islamic fundamentalist organization, owned responsibility for the attack and claimed the blast was carried out in retaliation to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's death sentence.

"We own the responsibility for today's blasts at Delhi high court. Our demand is that Mohammed Afzal Guru's death sentence should be repealed immediately else we would target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India."[19]

On 16 November 2012, the President had sent back to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seven cases, including the one on Afzal Guru. The President wanted home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to take a relook at the MHA opinion given during his predecessor P. Chidambaram's tenure. On 10 December, Shinde said he will look at the file after the winter session of the Parliament concludes on December 20. [20] [21] On 3rd February 2013, his mercy petition was rejected by the President Of India.[22] Afzal Guru was hanged till death on 9th feb 2013.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/afzal-guru-s-mercy-petition-rejected-execution-soon-sources-328499?pfrom=home-lateststories
  2. ^ a b c State v. Mohd. Afzal and Ors., Judgment of High Court of Delhi in Murder Reference No. 1/2003 and Crl. A. No. 43/2003 by J. Usha Mehra and J. Pradeep Nandrajog 9October 29, 20030
  3. ^ http://www.amarujala.com/national/nat-Afzal-Compunction-why-not-exploded-a-car-bomb-16054.html.
  4. ^ http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/AfzalBooklet-1.pdf
  5. ^ State ( N . C . T . of Delhi ) vs . Navjot Sandhu @ Afsan Guru, Supreme Court of India, August 8, 2005
  6. ^ State ( N . C . T . of Delhi ) vs . Navjot Sandhu @ Afsan Guru, Supreme Court of India, August 8, 2005.
  7. ^ "Why Afzal Must not Hang". Democracy Org. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  8. ^ Roy, Arundhati (15 December 2006). "India's shame". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  9. ^ a b (30 October 2006). No Mercy. India Today, [5(43)], [14-15].
  10. ^ Playing With National Security People's Democracy
  11. ^ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main21.asp?filename=Ne102806Afzal_was_CS.asp
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ "Bitta urges President not to pardon Afzal". The Times Of India. 8 November 2006.
  14. ^ "BJP flays Arundhati Roy for 'defending' Afzal". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on Nov 23 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  15. ^ "Afzal Guru Mercy petition file is not with President of India!". Indian Leaks. 7 January 2010.
  16. ^ "Afzal Guru's mercy petition not yet sent to president: Chidambaram". Deccan Herald. 23 February 2011.
  17. ^ "Home Ministry rejects Afzal Guru's mercy petition". CNN-IBN. 10 August 2011.
  18. ^ "11 dead, 76 injured in terror strike". Hindustan Times. September 7 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "HuJI claims responsibility for Delhi high court blast". Times Of India. September 7 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Aman Sharma (11 Dec, 2012). "Sushil Kumar Shinde to look into Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru's file after winter session". ET Bureau. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Shinde to look Afzal Guru's mercy plea after Winter Session". PTI. December 10, 2012.
  22. ^ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/afzal-guru-s-mercy-petition-rejected-execution-soon-sources-328499?pfrom=home-lateststories
  23. ^ "Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru has been hanged". February 09, 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)

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