INDIA. SC STAYS DEATH PENALTY OF ASHFAQ

the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, admitted an appeal filed by Red Fort attack case convict and Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Mohd Arif alias Ashfaq. The death sentence awarded to him by the trial court and upheld by the Delhi High Court was stayed. Ashfaq's counsel argued before a Bench comprising Justices G P Mathur and P Sathasivam that the HC had erred in convicting him despite finding the prosecution evidence weak to establish the chain of events leading to the attack on Red Fort in 2000.
Jaiswal said that all other accused were acquitted by the HC and the benefit of doubt should also have gone to Ashfaq, a Pakistani national. The Bench, while admitting the appeal, stayed the death sentence and issued notice to Delhi Police seeking its reply to the petition.
The HC had dismissed Asfaq's appeal against the trial court verdict awarding capital punishment to him after convicting him for waging war against the state and killing three persons, including two army jawans, in Red Fort on the night of December 22, 2000.
However, the HC, in its 210-page judgment, had reversed the trial court findings against six convicts including Srinagar-based father-son duo Nazir Ahmed Qasid and Farooq Ahmed Qasid, who were sentenced to life imprisonment. Ashfaq had allegedly opened indiscriminate fire on guards of the seventh battalion of Rajputana Rifles after sneaking into the 17th century monument.