‘Rarest of rare, death is verdict’

Describing the attack on Parliament as a ‘‘rarest of rare case’’, the special court for POTA today sentenced to death th...

Describing the attack on Parliament as a ‘‘rarest of rare case’’, the special court for POTA today sentenced to death the three accused — Mohammed Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani. Shaukat’s wife, Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment.

Referring to their act of conspiring with foreign terrorists to attack Parliament as ‘‘horrendous, revolting and dastardly’’, special judge S N Dhingra imposed the death sentence under POTA as well as under Section 302 of the IPC for the murder of nine security personnel.

THE GUILTY
		Afzal: Fake, fabricated; you journalists should write freely
		Geelani: I have been framed, democracy is under threat
		Shaukat: If fighting for J&K is terrorism, I’m a terrorist
		Afsan: Yesterday, attacked husband; today asked for kin

In addition, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on each of the accused separately under POTA as well as under IPC, out of which Rs 50,000 each would be given to the relatives of the nine deceased.

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Pronouncing his sentence, the judge stated that they were ‘‘inspired by Osama Bin Laden and Masood Azhar’’, an ultra fundamentalist leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a terrorist group based in Pakistan.

Speaking to reporters, defence counsel Seema Gulati said they would be appealing against the order before the high court within a month, the time period allowed for an appeal under POTA.

Nitya Ramakrishan, counsel for Shaukat and his wife, Afsan, said ‘‘There is no question of not going for an appeal. Death penalty was not called for. We are against capital punishment.’’

As soon as the sentence was announced, Geelani wanted to speak to the Press but the judge’s reply was lost in the din. Before being led away, Geelani managed to say,

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‘‘I’m innocent, I have been framed in the case. By convicting innocents, you cannot suppress emotions.’’ He added, ‘‘peace comes with justice; if there is no justice, there is no democracy.’’ His parting shot was: ‘‘Democracy in India is under threat.’’

Shaukat reacted to the sentence with ‘‘If fighting for the liberation of Kashmir is terrorism, I am a terrorist’’ even as policemen dragged him out of court, covering his mouth.

Afzal, who was also whisked away, appealed to reporters: ‘‘You are journalists of an independent country, you should write independently.’’

Proclaiming that Navjot Sandhu ‘‘deserves no leniency’’, the court sentenced her to five years of RI under Section 123 of IPC (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war against the Government of India) and a fine of Rs 10,000. If she fails to pay the fine, she will further undergo RI for six months, the special judge said.

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Impartial probe at
international level: Hurriyat

• The All Parties Hurriyat Conference demanded an impartial probe at the international level into the attacks on the J&K Assembly and the Parliament last year. ‘‘No freedom loving person can be involved in such acts,’’ a Hurriyat statement read. ‘‘Such attacks were carried out by Indian agencies to suppress the freedom struggle’’

• The Kashmir Bar Association, a constituent of the Hurriyat, said the verdict was based on a ‘‘mock trial’’ and called for a one-day strike on Thursday

• Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Shah led a demonstration in Baramulla, where the families of the convicted live. He said he would file an appeal in the Delhi High Court. POTA was being used to ‘‘suppress the Opposition and turn it into a vote garnering machine’’ for the next Parliamentary elections, he said

• The Dukhtaran-e-Millat militant organisation called for a two-day strike

Observing that ‘‘she could have saved the nation from this terrorist attack’’, the judge added that ‘‘There was no doubt that she was having a difficult choice of going against her husband, but I consider that when the question of lives of top leadership of this country was involved and the question of several innocent lives was involved, the choice was not difficult.’’

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Rejecting her counsel’s plea that disclosing the conspiracy would have meant death for her husband, the court said she could have saved her husband’s life if she had disclosed the conspiracy in time.

Afzal, Shaukat and Gilani were further sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 121 of IPC (waging war against Government of India) alongwith a fine of Rs. 10,000 each, which if unpaid will lead to further imprisonment for six months.

They were also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 122 (collecting arms with the intention to wage war against the government) and also slapped with a fine of Rs 25,000. Sentenced to RI for ten years under Section 121A of IPC (conspiracy to wage war against Government of India), they were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each. If they are unable to pay the fine, they will have to undergo an additional one-year RI.

Convicting them under Section 307 of the IPC for ‘‘causing firearm injuries to 16 persons’’, the court also ordered them to pay a fine of Rs 175,000 each. ‘‘And if this amount is paid, compensation of Rs 10,000 each would be paid to each of the injured,’’ the court said.

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Declaring that the punishment in such cases must be a deterrent, the court said the ‘‘conspiracy for attacking Parliament House with intention to kill the Prime Minister, home minister and making hostage the entire legislature cannot be looked upon in isolation.’’