Afzal Guru’s plea for a shift to J&K jail vetoed

NEW DELHI: Five-and-a-half years after he was sentenced to death for the terrorist attack on Parliament, Mohammad Afzal Guru on Friday requested Supreme Court to ask the Centre to shift him from Tihar Jail in Delhi to one nearer to his home in Srinagar.

Before issuing notice to the Centre on his petition, a bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked his counsel V C Mahajan about the status of the mercy plea filed by Afzal before the President.

Afzal had filed a petition to shift him from Tihar Jail to a jail in J&K citing his family members’ inability to meet him at Delhi because of poor financial condition.

The bench was not inclined to accede to Afzal’s plea for lodging him in a prison nearer to his home and asked for an alternative. “Can you suggest a jail outside Jammu & Kashmir,” it inquired.

Mahajan suggested Pathankot in Punjab, which neighbours Jammu & Kashmir . The bench agreed to seek the Centre’s response to this suggestion.