Sovereignty Under Siege continues......

 14 May 2002, Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain Guru, Sayyed Abdul Rehman Geelani, Afsan Guru aka Navjot Sandhu along with Maulana Masood Azhar, Ghazi Baba aka Doctor and Tariq Ahmed—three proclaimed offenders—had charge sheets filed against them. Charges were framed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 (POTA) and the Explosive Substances Act before the designated sessions court presided over by Justice S.N. Dhingra.

Eighty witnesses were examined for the prosecution and ten witnesses on behalf of the accused, S.A.R Geelani. The trial concluded within six months and Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain Guru and S.A.R. Geelani were convicted.* Accused number four, namely, Navjot Sandhu aka Afsan Guru, was acquitted of all charges except Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war against the Government of India), for which she was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for five years. The death sentence was imposed on the other three accused, namely, Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain Guru and
S.A.R. Geelani. It was a huge victory for us in the Special Cell. The appeal against the conviction of the accused was heard in the Delhi High Court. It was around this time that I had returned to the Delhi Police, after nine years of deputation in the CBI, and was working in the Special Cell. It was very important to have the best legal team possible to represent us when the Delhi High Court heard the appeals of the accused against the orders of the court. Our first choice was Gopal Subramanium, an eminent advocate known for his professional excellence and his incisive legal mind.

( Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain Guru and S.A.R. Geelani were convicted for the offences under Sections 121, 121A, 122, Section 120B, read with Sections 302 and 307, read with Section 120B of IPC, subsections (2), (3) and (5) of Section 3 and Section 4(b) of POTA, and Sections 3 and 4 of Explosive Substances Act. The accused 1 and 2 were also convicted under Section 3(4) of POTA)

To be continued............