Shinde faces ire of rights groups

Civil society activists and lawyers who had defended Afzal Guru, on Monday questioned home minister Sushilkumar Shinde's statement that his case was different from those of killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. Nagendar Sharma reports.

Civil society activists and lawyers who had defended Afzal Guru, on Monday questioned home minister Sushilkumar Shinde's statement that his case was different from those of killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

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Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar and Guru's lawyer ND Pancholi said Shinde's claim that these two cases were still pending in the Supreme Court was misleading.

He said the Shinde's statement "appeared to be selective on facts for the simple reason that Afzal was hanged in a secretive manner without having let him exhausted all the legal remedies available to him."

Pancholi said the convicts in late Rajiv Gandhi's case were allowed to challenge the rejection of their mercy plea and in Beant Singh's case too, SC was moved on behalf of the convict Balwant Singh Rajoana after a death warrant had been issued against him.