Afzal Guru hanged..

Afzal Guru hanged..

Afzal Guru, Jaish-e-Mohammad militant convicted in the audacious attack on Parliament in 2001, was hanged on todaday in Delhi's Tihar Jail in an operation shrouded in secrecy, five days after his mercy plea was rejected by the Presiden

A resident of Sopore in north Kashmir, 43-year-old Guru, sentenced to death in 2002 by a special court and the verdict upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005, was executed at 8 am in Tihar Jail here and his body was buried in the prison premises.

Guru, a former fruit merchant, was found guilty of conspiring and sheltering the militants who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, in which nine persons were killed.

On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing five Delhi Police personnel, a woman CRPF official, two Parliament watch and ward staff and a gardener.

A journalist, who was injured, died later. All five terrorists were shot dead by security forces.

Guru was arrested within hours after the attack from a bus in the national capital.

Guru is the second Kashmiri militant to be hanged after JKLF leader Maqbool Bhat who was executed on February 11, 1984 for the murder of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in United Kingdom.

The attack on Parliament had brought India and Pakistan on the brink of war.

Guru was sentenced to death along with Delhi University professor S A R Gilani and Shaukat Hussain. Hussain's wife Afsan was let off.

Gilani was, however, let off by the High Court in 2003 while the sentence of Guru and Hussain was upheld.

The Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty of Guru in 2005 while in the case of Hussain, it was commuted to 10 years.

A chronology of events

Following is the chronology of events leading to the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist’s execution:

December 13, 2001: Five terrorists enter Parliament complex and open indiscriminate fire, killing nine people and injuring over 15.

December 15, 2001: Delhi Police pick up Afzal Guru, a member of terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), from Jammu and Kashmir. S.A.R Geelani of Delhi University’s Zakir Hussain College picked up for questioning and later arrested. Two others — Afsan Guru and her husband Shaukat Hussain Guru — were picked up later.

December 29, 2001: Afzal Guru sent to 10-day police remand.

June 4, 2002: Charges are framed against four people — Afzal Guru, Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru, Afsan Guru and Geelani.

December 18, 2002: Death sentence given to Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afzal Guru, while Afsan Guru is let off.

August 30, 2003: Jaish-e-Muhammad leader Ghazi Baba, prime accused in the attack, is killed in an encounter with the Border Security Force (BSF) in Srinagar. Three more militants along with him are also killed in the 10-hour encounter.

October 29, 2003: Geelani acquitted in the case.

August 4, 2005: The Supreme Court, while confirming the death sentence of Afzal Guru, commutes Shaukat Hussain Guru’s death sentence to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.

September 26, 2006: Delhi court orders Afzal Guru to be hanged.

October 3, 2006: Afzal Guru’s wife Tabasum Guru files a mercy petition with then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

January 12, 2007: The Supreme Court dismisses Afzal Guru’s plea seeking review of his death sentence, saying “there is no merit” in it.

May 19, 2010: Delhi government rejects Afzal Guru’s mercy petition; endorses capital punishment awarded to him by the Supreme Court.

December 30, 2010: Shaukat Hussain Guru released from Tihar Jail.

December 10, 2012: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde says he would examine Afzal Guru’s file after Parliament’s Winter session concludes on December 22.

February 3, 2013: President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Afzal Guru’s mercy petition

February 9, 2013: Afzal Guru hanged in Tihar Jail.