New Delhi, Oct 29: Delhi High Court today acquitted suspended Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani and Navjot Sandhu, wife of a Kashmiri militant, in the Parliament attack case. The court has, however, confirmed death sentence for two other accused in the case - Mohammad Afzal and Shaukat Hussain.
A bench of Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog upheld the verdict of the special Pota court holding Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists Mohd Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru, husband of Sandhu, guilty of waging war against the state and the award of capital penalty to them.
The court allowed the appeals of Geelani and Sandhu alias Afsan Guru.
While Geelani was convicted and sentenced under Pota as well as various provisions of IPC for allegedly being part of the conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001 and waging war against the state, Sandhu was sentenced to five years imprisonment on the charge of concealing the conspiracy.
Pronouncing the verdict in a jam-packed court this morning, the bench also allowed the state appeal to enhance the punishment awarded to convict Afzal and Shaukat under Section 121 A of IPC from life imprisonment to death penalty.
The bench dismissed the appeals filed by convict Afzal and Shaukat and upheld the death penalty awarded to them by special Pota judge S N Dhingra in December last.
While allowing the appeal of Geelani and Afsan guru, the bench said, "Prosecution has not been able to sustain the charges against them."
Afzal`s counsel requested the court to stay the execution of the convict. However, the bench refused to oblige him saying, "They are not going to execute him tomorrow. You have enough time to file an appeal."
The December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament had resulted in the death of nine persons, while 16 others were seriously injured.
The five Pakistani terrorists -- Mohammed alias Leader, Hamza, Haider, Raja and Rana -- were killed by the security personnel in the ensuing gunbattle.
Bureau Report