Red Fort attack case: Supreme Court affirms death penalty to LeT militant Mohammed Arif; rejects review petition

In a big development, SC dismissed the review plea of LeT terrorist Mohammad Arif in the 2000 Red Fort attack case

November 3, 2022

SC upholds capital punishment for LeT terrorist Mohd Arif

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the death penalty awarded to Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Mohammed Arif for the 2000 Red Fort Attack case which resulted in the death of three persons including two army officers. The Court dismissed the review petition filed by him challenging his conviction and sentence.

LeT militant Arif had challenged the Delhi High Court verdict in the apex court on the grounds that the High Court upheld his death penalty, but acquitted six others, who were sentenced to varying jail terms in the case.

The apex court dismissed his appeal challenging the conviction on August 10, 2011, and the review petition was dismissed on August 28, 2011.

The review petition was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi, after observing that the guilt of the accused has been proven in the case, though it accepted the prayers that electronic records must be eschewed from consideration.

Chief Justice of India U U Lalit stated while pronouncing the judgment, “We have accepted the prayers that electronic records must be eschewed from consideration. However, having regard to the entirety of the matter, guilty is proven. We affirm the view taken by this court and reject the review petition.”

Upholding the High Court’s confirmation of the death sentence Supreme Court by its earlier order had observed– “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 had no place in India. The Appellant was a foreign nation that built up a conspiracy by practicing deceit and committing various other offenses in furtherance of the conspiracy to wage war against India and also to commit murders by launching an unprovoked attack on the soldiers of the Indian Army. We, therefore, have no doubts that the death sentence was the only sentence in the peculiar circumstance of this case.”

Earlier, in 2000 some intruders started indiscriminate firing and gunned down three persons including two army Jawans belonging to the 7th Rajputana Rifles. Mohd. Arif, admittedly a Pakistani national, was arrested on December 25, 2000, in this case. He was convicted by the trial court on October 24, 2005, and awarded a death sentence on October 31, 2005. His death sentence was in December by the Delhi High Court by an order dated September 13, 2007.

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