Afzal's hopes recede as SC upholds death sentence

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death penalty for Mohammad Afzal, the key accused in the Parliament attack case, and dismissed his curative petition. A Bench headed by the outgoing Chief Justice YK Sabharwal dismissed the petition, saying “it has no merit”.

The Supreme Court also declined to review the curative petition filed by Shaukat Hussain Guru, another accused in the case, seeking to review his 10-year sentence.

Afzal, who has been awarded death penalty in the Parliament attack case, had filed a curative petition before the apex court for reviewing his sentence.

He said he had not been given advocate of his choice to defend his case. His move came in the midst of a campaign by some of his friends and activists, seeking pardon for him.

The issue of Afzal’s conviction took on a political tinge following the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s reported request to the Prime Minister that his death sentence be commuted to life.

This had prompted the BJP to launch a high-profile campaign saying the prime accused in the Parliament deserved no mercy. The principal Opposition party dubbed the campaign for mercy for Afzal as a demonstration of the UPA government’s “minority appeasement” policy.

With a section of the Congress coming out against any leniency to be shown to the main accused, the AICC finally got its J&K chief minister to publicly eat his words over this highly sensitive matter. Now, Afzal’s last recourse is the mercy petition with the President, which is still pending.