Mohammad Afzal Guru (30 June 1969 – 9 February 2013) was a Kashmir separatist, who was convicted for his role in the 2001 Indian parliament. He received a death sentence for his involvement, which was upheld by the Indian Supreme Court. Following the rejection of a mercy petition by the president of India, he was executed on 9 February 2013. His body was buried within the precincts of Delhi's tihar jail. Amnesty has questioned his sentence stating that he did not receive adequate legal representation and that his execution was carried out in secrecy.
Facts of the case
The 13 December 2001 attack was conducted by the jasih-e- Mohammad (JeM) Gunmen sneaked into the Parliament in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels. They drove into the then Vice President Krishna kant car parked in the premises and began firing. The ministers and MPs escaped unhurt. The attack was foiled due to the immediate reaction of the security personnel present at the spot and complex. There was a fierce gun-battle lasting for nearly 30 minutes. Nine persons including eight security personnel and one gardener lost their lives in the attack and 16 persons including 13 security personnel, received injuries. The five assailants were killed
On 15 December 2001, the special cell of Delhi police , with the help of leads relating to the car used and cellphone records, arrested Guru from Srinagar, his cousin Shaukat Husain Guru, Shaukat's wife Afsan Guruand S A R Gilani, a lecturer of Arabic at Delhi university were also arrested.
On 13 December an FIR was lodged by the police and after subsequent arrests, all the accused were tried under charges of waging war, conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder etc. with the provisions of the prevention of terrorism act 2002 (POTA)
Guru was charged under several sections of POTA and the Indian penal code including waging of war against the Government of India and conspiracy to commit the same; murder and criminal conspiracy; conspiring and knowingly facilitating the commission of a terrorist act or acts preparatory to a terrorist act, and also voluntarily harbouring and concealing the now-deceased terrorists, knowing that such persons were terrorists and were members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and possession of ₹ 10 lakhs given to him by the terrorists who were killed by the police when they attacked the ParliamenAfter his arrest, Guru made a confessional statement which bore his signature, recorded by the DCP, special cell
However, after seven months, Guru disowned this confession and the Supreme Court did not accept the earlier confession as evidence against him.
Sushil Kumar, Guru's advocate later claimed that Guru had written a letter to him where Guru said that he had made the confessions under duress as his family was being threatened.
Guru had said that he had been subjected to extreme torture which included electric shocks in private parts and being beaten up for hours along with threats regarding his family after his arrestBetween the time of his arrest and the time when initial charges were filed, Guru was told that his brother was held in detention At the time of his confession, he had no legal representation.
Conviction
On 18 December 2002, relying on the circumstantial evidence, the special court awarded capital punishment to Guru,
Phone calls made by ‘Fidayeen’ terrorists to Afzal Guru minutes before the attack on Parliament coupled with circumstantial evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that he played an active part in the conspiracy, the Supreme Court had said.
The apex court, in its August 2005 verdict, had noted that just before the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, Guru had received calls on his mobile phone from one of the terrorists Mohammed — at 10:43 AM, 11:00 AM and 11:25 AM.
The bench said transcripts of the call details established that Mohammed had told Guru that he and the others were going to execute the plan.
The bench also took into consideration that Guru was instrumental in providing hideout and accommodation to the terrorists at Gandhi Vihar and Indira Vihar in north Delhi, and played a key role in arranging the logistics such as the purchase of chemicals used for preparing the explosives.
Guru had also identified the bodies of five terrorists, Mohammed, Haider, Hamza, Rana and Raja, killed during the gun battle by the security personnel inside Parliament complex.
The court had noted that the evidence had established that Afzal Guru was in contact with the terrorists and three other accused — S. A. R. Geelani, the Delhi University college lecturer, his cousin Shaukat Hussain Guru, and Afsan Guru alias Navjot Sandhu.
“As is the case with most of the conspiracies, there is and could be no direct evidence of the agreement amounting to criminal conspiracy. However, the circumstances cumulatively considered and weighed, would unerringly point to the collaboration of the accused Afzal Guru with the slain ‘Fidayeen’ terrorists. The circumstances, if considered together, as it ought to be, establish beyond reasonable doubt that Afzal Guru was a party to the conspiracy and had played an active part in various acts done in furtherance of the conspiracy,” a bench comprising Justice P. V. Reddi and Justice P. P. Naolekar had said in the judgement.
CIRCUMSITANTIAL Evidence which becomes basis for his conviction :
Evidence in a trial which is not, directly from an eyewitness or participant and requires some reasoning or inference in order to prove a fact. This type of evidence is some time referred as indirect evidence .therefore it can be stated that circumstantial evidence is that type of evidence which strongly suggest something but don’t prove it.it simply helps to draw an inference about a fact or event that took place .
there is a public perception that such evidence is weak ("all they have is circumstantial evidence"),but that is a misconception i.e sometimes the probable conclusion from the circumstances may be so strong that there can be little doubt as to a vital fact ("beyond a reasonable doubt" in a criminal case, and "a preponderance of the evidence" in a civil case). Particularly in criminal cases, "eyewitness" type evidence is often lacking and may be unreliable, so circumstantial evidence becomes essential. Prior threats to the victim, fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, omwnership of the murder weapon, and the accused being seen in the neighbourhood, certainly point to the suspect as being the killer, but each bit of evidence is circumstantial
Criticism:
Evidence 1: From the evidence of PW5 who was the ASI in-charge of Escort-I vehicle of the Vice-President He stated that at about 11.30 a.m. one white Ambassador car having red light entered the Parliament complex and came to the point where the cascade of the Vice-President was waiting near Gate No.11. Since the escort vehicle was blocking the way, the car turned towards left. He got suspicious and ordered the vehicle to stop. Then, the driver of the Ambassador car reversed the vehicle and while doing so struck the rear side of the car of the Vice-President. When the car was about to move away, he and the driver of the Vice- President's car ran towards the car and caught hold of the collar of the driver.
As he was trying to drive away, PW5 took out his revolver. At that juncture, the five persons in the car got out of it and quickly started laying wires and detonators. Then PW5 fired a shot, which struck on the leg of one of the terrorists. The terrorist also returned the fire as a result of which he received a bullet injury on his right thigh
Evidence 2:
The Station House Officer of Parliament Street Police Station, Shri G.L. Mehta (PW1) along with his team of police personnel reached the spot after receiving a wireless message. By that time, the firing spree was over. PW1 cordoned off the area. He found one deceased terrorist lying opposite Gate No.1 of, and other 3 deceased at gate no no 9 Other at gate no 5
After spot examination the spot of occurrence, prepared a rough sketch of the scene of occurrence and seized various articles including arms and ammunition, live and empty cartridges and the car and the documents found therein. Blood samples were also lifted from various spots. The photographs of the five slain terrorists were caused to be taken. Then, he sent the dead bodies to the mortuary in the hospital for post-mortem.
After the Bomb Disposal Squad had rendered the area safe and his preliminary observations were over This formed the basis for registration of First Information Report. The FIR was registered for offences under Sections
Investigations conducted by PW1 and his team of officers led to the recovery and seizure of the following articles inter alia white ambassador bearing fake home minister logo
Six fake identity cards bearing some telephone no which registered in the names of Anil Kumar, Raju Lal, Sunil Verma, Sanjay Koul, Rohail Sharma and Rohail Ali Shah (which were subsequently found to be fake names of the deceased terrorists).
One fake identity card of Cybertech Computer Hardware Solutions in the name of Ashiq Hussain which was being carried by the deceased terrorist Mohammed.And
Two slips of paper bearing five domestic mobile phone numbers, three other SIM cards were recovered from the purse of the deceased terrorist Mohammad at Gate No. topographical details regarding the Parliament House building and the compound were handwritten. Phone call details were obtained and analysed from the respective cellular mobile service providers. Analysis of the call records indicated that the number 9811489429 which was found on the I.D. cards, (subsequently discovered to be that of the accused Afzal when the accused was in custody both Afzal and Shaukat confessed having been parties to the conspiracy to launch an attack on the Parliament House ,when the said accused were brought to the court Afzal stated that they are being harassed by police and hence confessions recorded is malic
The accused was then produced to the metropolitan magistrate On 22nd December as the accused was unable to arrange an advocate therefore on state expences legal assistance where provided which later on was not give
CONCLUSION : all the circumstantial evidence which were made basis for convection were not conclusive one and where not beyond the reasonable ground as required by section 10 .
As the evidence were still in dilemma no full fledged legal assistant where given to accused and therefore due process of law was not followed
CIRCUMSITANTIAL evidence don’t prove any point only a interference were given and therefore can’t become a sole reason for conviction
The torture in police 👮 custody during investigation wasn't take into consideration
past history of person can't become a ground of conviction and that too when he himself had renounced the path during whole litigation only presumption where made no conclusive proof was there to prove the guilt .
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