Afzal Guru hanged..
Afzal Guru, Jaish-e-Mohammad militant convicted in the audacious attack
on Parliament in 2001, was hanged on todaday in Delhi's Tihar Jail in an
operation shrouded in secrecy, five days after his mercy plea was rejected by
the Presiden
A resident of Sopore in north Kashmir, 43-year-old Guru, sentenced to
death in 2002 by a special court and the verdict upheld by the Supreme Court in
2005, was executed at 8 am in Tihar Jail here and his body was buried in the
prison premises.
Guru, a former fruit merchant, was found guilty of conspiring and
sheltering the militants who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, in which
nine persons were killed.
On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament
complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing five Delhi Police personnel, a
woman CRPF official, two Parliament watch and ward staff and a gardener.
A journalist, who was injured, died later. All five terrorists were shot
dead by security forces.
Guru was arrested within hours after the attack from a bus in the
national capital.
Guru is the second Kashmiri militant to be hanged after JKLF leader
Maqbool Bhat who was executed on February 11, 1984 for the murder of Indian
diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in United Kingdom.
The attack on Parliament had brought India and Pakistan on the brink of
war.
Guru was sentenced to death along with Delhi University professor S A R
Gilani and Shaukat Hussain. Hussain's wife Afsan was let off.
Gilani was, however, let off by the High Court in 2003 while the
sentence of Guru and Hussain was upheld.
The Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty of Guru in 2005 while in
the case of Hussain, it was commuted to 10 years.
A chronology
of events
Following is
the chronology of events leading to the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist’s execution:
December 13,
2001: Five terrorists enter Parliament complex and open indiscriminate fire,
killing nine people and injuring over 15.
December 15,
2001: Delhi Police pick up Afzal Guru, a member of terrorist outfit
Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), from Jammu and Kashmir. S.A.R Geelani of Delhi
University’s Zakir Hussain College picked up for questioning and later
arrested. Two others — Afsan Guru and her husband Shaukat Hussain Guru — were
picked up later.
December 29,
2001: Afzal Guru sent to 10-day police remand.
June 4,
2002: Charges are framed against four people — Afzal Guru, Geelani, Shaukat
Hussain Guru, Afsan Guru and Geelani.
December 18,
2002: Death sentence given to Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afzal Guru,
while Afsan Guru is let off.
August 30,
2003: Jaish-e-Muhammad leader Ghazi Baba, prime accused in the attack, is
killed in an encounter with the Border Security Force (BSF) in Srinagar. Three
more militants along with him are also killed in the 10-hour encounter.
October 29,
2003: Geelani acquitted in the case.
August 4,
2005: The Supreme Court, while confirming the death sentence of Afzal Guru,
commutes Shaukat Hussain Guru’s death sentence to 10 years of rigorous
imprisonment.
September
26, 2006: Delhi court orders Afzal Guru to be hanged.
October 3,
2006: Afzal Guru’s wife Tabasum Guru files a mercy petition with then President
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
January 12,
2007: The Supreme Court dismisses Afzal Guru’s plea seeking review of his death
sentence, saying “there is no merit” in it.
May 19, 2010:
Delhi government rejects Afzal Guru’s mercy petition; endorses capital
punishment awarded to him by the Supreme Court.
December 30,
2010: Shaukat Hussain Guru released from Tihar Jail.
December 10,
2012: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde says he would examine Afzal Guru’s file
after Parliament’s Winter session concludes on December 22.
February 3,
2013: President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Afzal Guru’s mercy petition
February 9,
2013: Afzal Guru hanged in Tihar Jail.
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