Supreme court to hear 40 cases of death sentences including four review petitions filed by convicts whose appeals were denied by a court.
By Vaishali Pandey/The Newster
The Supreme Court of India has issued a circular announcing that from September 7, 40 ‘Death Cases’ would be heard by three-judge panels, including the one related to LeT terrorist Mohammad Arif. Four review petitions of convicts whose appeals were denied by a court that upheld the death penalty are on the list.
One of the cases set for hearing by the Supreme Court concerns Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq’s punishment in the 2000 Red Fort attack, in which three persons were killed, including two Army jawans.
In 2011, the apex court had dismissed the review petition of Arif stating that, “”In fact, this is a unique case where there is one most aggravating circumstance that it was a direct attack on the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India by foreigners. Thus, it was an attack on Mother India. This is apart from the fact that as many as three persons had lost their lives. The conspirators 15 had no place in India.”
The court further had said, “Appellant was a foreign national and had entered India without any authorization or even justification. This is apart from the fact that the appellant built up a conspiracy by practicing deceit and committing various other offences in furtherance of the conspiracy to wage war against India as also to commit murders by launching an unprovoked attack on the soldiers of Indian Army. We, therefore, have no doubts that death sentence was the only sentence in the peculiar circumstance of this case”, as reported by live law.
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The appellate court had already released a standard operating procedure for final hearings of cases. The cases will be heard in physical mode beginning from September 1 and said that it will use a hybrid option from Tuesday to Thursday while strictly adhering to COVID-19 rules.
Due to the pandemic, the Supreme Court has been hearing cases through video conferences since March last year, and numerous bar associations and attorneys have demanded that physical sessions be resumed promptly.
Secretary-General has released the SOP on August 28, stated that courts will continue to hear miscellaneous cases in virtual mode on Mondays and Fridays.
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