SC affirms death penalty to Pakistani LeT terrorist in 2000 Red Fort attack case

Arif, a Pakistani man, convicted of masterminding the attack, was given the death penalty by a Delhi trial court in 2005. Further, the Delhi high court confirmed the capital punishment for him in 2007

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the death sentence of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Mohammad Ashfaq Arif convicted of attacking an army barracks at Delhi’s Red Fort in December 2000.

Three people were killed in Red Fort in an attack that took place in December 2000. (File image)

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit, and comprised of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi dismissed the review petition filed by Arif noting the order of conviction and sentence do not warrant any intervention.

Arif, a Pakistani man, convicted of masterminding the attack, was given the death penalty by a Delhi trial court in 2005. Further, the Delhi high court confirmed the capital punishment for him in 2007, and later upheld by the top court in 2011.

His review and curative petitions were also dismissed in January 2014. However, the Supreme Court in 2016 decided to give Arif yet another chance to fight for his life in the wake of the September 2014 judgment by a constitutional bench which allowed review petitions of condemned prisoners to be heard in open court rather than inside judges’ chambers. Arif’s review petition was earlier dismissed without an open court hearing.

Three people were killed in Red Fort in an attack that took place in December 2000. Arif was arrested along with his wife, Rehmana Yousuf Farooqui, four days after the incident. The trial court had convicted him and six others in October 2005 under the charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and waging war against India. He was sentenced to death, while the others received jail terms of varying lengths.

The high court had in September 2007 affirmed his conviction, but ordered the release of all other co-accused for lack of evidence.

According to the prosecution, two militants entered the Red Fort - then being used as an army garrison - on the night of 22 December 2000. The gunmen attacked an army supply depot, killing two soldiers and a guard, before escaping.

The Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba had claimed responsibility for the attack, which had then strained relations between India and Pakistan.