SC makes an exception to its own decision barring open court hearing of a death row convict, whose review and curative petitions have been declined.
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Arif of Lashkar-e-Toiba an open court hearing against its verdict upholding his death sentence in the Red Fort attack case. The assault on December 22, 2000, had caused the death of three Army jawans.
Arif was allowed to file a fresh review petition within one month with freedom to raise additional grounds for review of the Apex Court’s verdict on August 10, 2011.
By granting Arif an open court hearing the Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur has made an exception to its own decision on September 2, 2014, that bars open court hearing of a death row convict, whose review and curative petitions have been declined. The other judges on the Bench were Justices Jagdish Singh Khehar, J. Chelameswar, A.K.Sikri and Rohinton Fali Nariman.
Arif was among the intruders who had fired indiscriminately and gunned down three jawans of the Rajputana Rifles, deployed in the Red Fort for its protection. A Quick Reaction Team returned the fire but none of the attackers was hit, and they were successful in escaping by scaling the rear side of the boundary wall of the fort.
Holding that only death sentence could be awarded to him for the direct assault on the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India, the Supreme Court had dubbed it as “an attack on Mother India” in its 2011 verdict. The court had also said that Arif had “built up a conspiracy by practicing deceit and committing various other offences in furtherance of the conspiracy to wage war against India as also to commit murders by launching an unprovoked attack on the soldiers of Indian Army”.
