New Delhi, January 12
The Supreme Court today dismissed curative petitions of Parliament attack case convicts, Mohammad Afzal Guru, awarded death sentence, and co-accused Shaukat Hussain Guru, given 10-years rigorous imprisonment.
A four-Judge Bench, headed by outgoing Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal dismissed their petitions for reconsidering the apex court’s judgement of August, 2005. In the curative petition, the court only considers if any illegality had cropped in its judgement.
The curative petition is the last legal remedy. The only hope of Afzal, facing death row, is now mercy petition pending before President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Dismissing their petition, in a chamber hearing, the Bench, also comprising Chief Justice designate K.G. Balakrishnan, Mr Justice B.N. Agarwal and Mr Justice P.P. Naolekar, ruled that there was no merit in their petitions.
After upholding their conviction in August, 2005, the court had earlier reject their review petitions, not finding any merit in the same.
While Afzal was found guilty by the Supreme Court for various offences under POTA, his cousin Shaukat Hussain was convicted for not revealing the conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001, of which he had the knowledge.
Investigation into the case was completed in a record 17 days and the four accused — Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru, Afsan Guru, and S.A.R. Geelani, all Kashmiri Muslims — were tried in a fast-track court.
