Sovereignty Under Siege continues.....

However, it is never easy for the police to get a special counsel of their choice appointed in government cases. The common refrain from the bureaucracy is to make do with the existing law officers of the government. It was with considerable difficulty that we acquired the necessary approval for Subramanium to represent us alongside the government counsel.

The Delhi High Court acquitted S.A.R. Geelani and Afzal Guru but upheld Shaukat Hussain Guru’s and Afzal Guru’s death sentences. Geelani, who according to the prosecution had played a vital role in the conspiracy that led to the attack on the Indian parliament, had received extensive support from his outraged colleagues and friends in Delhi University, who were certain that he was innocent. He was represented by the lawyer Nandita Haksar, and at the end of the High Court hearings, was acquitted.
In the Supreme Court, where Gopal Subramanium represented us with his team, the death sentence of Afzal was upheld but Shaukat was held guilty under Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.
S.A.R. Geelani and Afzal Guru (accused no. 4) were acquitted by the Supreme Court.
Shaukat walked free nine months before his official date of release on account of his good behaviour in jail.

Eleven years, one month and twenty-seven days after the attack on the Indian parliament, Afzal Guru was hanged at 8
a.m. on 9 February 2013 in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. He had been on death row since 2002. He was buried in the prison itself after observing proper religious rites.

Afzal had no doubt engineered the 13 December 2001 attack on the Parliament House. He had worked out every minute detail for the fedayeens—their stay, fake identification documents, logistical support, mentorship, buying of explosives, the car to be used and the sneaking in of arms from outside Delhi.

To be continued.......