New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the review petition of death row convict Mohammad Arif to be heard in an open court.
Arif was sentenced to death for his role in the December 2000 Red Fort terror attack killing 3 people.
A Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T. S. Thakur modified the apex court's verdict on September 2 2014, by which the benefit of open court hearing in the review petition was available to those convicts whose review petitions were pending before the court.
In his plea, Arif had submitted that his case fell in a solitary category as both his review and curative petitions were dismissed before the apex court came out with the crucial verdict in September 2014.
Before this verdict, the review and curative petitions of death row convicts were not heard in open courts but were decided in chamber proceedings by circulation.
In 2011, the Supreme Court had upheld Arif's death sentence. However, in April 2014 the apex court stayed Arif's execution in the case.
