The PUDR said that no moral purpose would be served by sending Mohammad Arif, who is now behind bars for almost 22 years.
The PUDR said that no moral purpose would be served by sending Mohammad Arif, who is now behind bars for almost 22 years.
Delhi-based civil rights organization People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) on Thursday demanded commutation of the death sentence of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq as well as abolishing the death penalty. Of.
On 3 November, the Supreme Court, for the second time, dismissed a petition seeking a review of the death sentence awarded to him by Arif, a death row convict in the 2000 Red Fort attack case.
On the night of 22 December 2000, infiltrators including Arif had entered the Red Fort complex and were firing on the security personnel. Three soldiers were martyred in the attack.
On Thursday, PUDR said that Arif has so far spent nearly 22 years behind bars and sending him to death would serve no moral purpose other than to affirm the “vindictive nature” of India’s criminal justice system.
In 2014, the top court had accepted that excessive delay in disposal of mercy petitions by the President could become grounds for commuting the death penalty, the rights body said.
“Not recognizing the delay caused by the judicial proceedings, the courts have absolved themselves of rectifying the injustice that death row convicts have to suffer behind bars. Arif’s case underscores that delays in the functioning of the judicial machinery should be recognized, and such cases should be considered for commutation,” PUDR said in a statement.
The organization said that the current Supreme Court judgment upheld the state’s view that “when the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India is challenged by acts of terrorism, such acts are taken as the gravest of circumstances”. “
“Clearly, the exceptionality of terrorist offenses outweighs the judicial logic applicable in commutation cases. Yet, this position of upholding the death penalty for terror offenses is also not uniform as the apex court paved the way for Perarivalan’s release in May 2021. Equally, the reduction of the death sentence of Devinder Singh Bhullar in 2014 is significant as it shows the importance of life over death in terror cases,” the statement read.
PUDR said that in view of these judicial precedents, the present decision to uphold the death sentence of Arif after 22 years of imprisonment and arrest is “unfortunate and unfair”.