Parliament Attack Case: Jaish Militant Gets Death Sentence

A Delhi Court has ordered that Jaish-e-Mohammed militant Mohamed Afzal be sentenced to death in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack case on October 20 saying that collective conscience of the society will be satisfied only if the death penalty is awarded to him.

Out of the four accused in the case, another JeM militant Shaukat Husssain Guru was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. Two other accused S A R Geelani, a Delhi University college lecturer, and lone woman accused Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, wife of Shaukat, have been acquitted in the case.

According to the prosecution, the terrorists led by Ghazi Baba, acting at the behest of ISI of Pakistan, had hatched the conspiracy to take hostage the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Home Minister L.K. Advani and other prominent leaders of various political parties, to spread terror in the country and pose grave threat to its unity and integrity.

Though Geelani was acquitted in the case, the apex court had said there was a needle of suspicion on him regarding his role in the "diabolical act" of attacking the supreme seat of democracy but there was no direct evidence to convict him in the case.