The PUDR said that sending Mohammed Arif, who has now spent nearly 22 years behind bars, to the gallows will serve no ethical purpose
The PUDR said that sending Mohammed Arif, who has now spent nearly 22 years behind bars, to the gallows will serve no ethical purpose
Delhi-based civil rights organization People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) on Thursday asked for commutation of the death sentence of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammed Arif alias Ashfaq, as well as the abolition of death penalty.
On November 3, the Supreme Court, for the second time, dismissed a petition by death row convict Arif to review the capital punishment awarded to him in the 2000 Red Fort attack case.
Intruders, including Arif, had sneaked into the Red Fort complex on the night of December 22, 2000, and opened fire on security personnel. Three soldiers were martyred in the attack.
On Thursday, the PUDR said that Arif has till now spent nearly 22 years behind bars and sending him to the gallows will serve no ethical purpose other than confirm the “vengeful nature” of India’s criminal justice system.
In 2014, the apex court had acknowledged that inordinate delay in disposing off the mercy petition by the President can form the basis for commutation of death penalty, the rights body said.
“By not recognising delay caused by judicial proceedings, the courts have absolved themselves from addressing the injustice that death penalty convicts suffer behind bars. Arif’s case underlines that delay arising from the workings of the judicial machinery must be recognised, and that such cases should be considered for commutation,” the PUDR said in a statement.
The organisation said that the present SC judgment has upheld the state’s view that “when there is a challenge to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India by acts of terrorism, such acts are taken as the most aggravating circumstances.”
“Clearly, the exceptionality of terror crimes overrides judicial reasoning applicable in commutation cases. Yet, even this position of upholding death penalty for terror crimes is not uniform as the apex court paved the way for Perarivalan’s release in May 2021. Equally, the commutation of Devinder Singh Bhullar’s death sentence in 2014 is important as it shows that the significance of life over death in terror cases,” the statement read.
The PUDR said that given these judicial precedents, the present decision to uphold Arif’s death sentence, 22 years after he was arrested and incarcerated, is “unfortunate and unfair”.
