SC upholds death for Red Fort attack ultra, slams Pakistan,

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) The Indian Supreme Court on
Wednesday upheld the death sentence of LeT terrorist Mohd Arif
alias Ashfaq in the 2000 Red Fort attack and said the
"arrogant" assault was a "brazen attempt" by Pakistan "to
overawe" India and wage war against it.
"It was a blatant, brazen faced and audacious act aimed
to overawe the Government of India. It was meant to show that
the enemy could with impunity reach and destroy the very
vitals of an institution so dear to our fellow countrymen for
what it signified for them," the court said without naming
Pakistan.
Three army jawans were killed when LeT terrorists
opened fire indiscriminately at Red Fort on December 22, 2000.
"This was not only an attack on Red Fort or the army
stationed therein, this was an arrogant assault on the self
respect of this great nation. It was a well thought out insult
offered to question the sovereignty of this great nation by
foreign nationals. Therefore, this case becomes a rarest of
rare case.
"This was nothing but an undeclared war by some foreign
mercenaries like the present appellant and his other partner
in conspiracy Abu Shamal and some others who either got killed
or escaped," Justice Sirpurkar writing the judgement said.
A two judge bench of justices V S Sirpurkar and T S
Thakur rejected the argument of defence lawyer Kamini Jaiswal
that Ashfaq was falsely implicated as he was a Pakistani
national and said the investigating agency had done a
commendable and meticulous job in cracking the case.
"We must immediately note that the criticism is
entirely misplaced, both against the investigating agency and
the Courts below.
"The investigation in this case was both scientific and
fair investigation. This was one of the most difficult cases
to be investigated as there could have been no clue available
to the investigating agency, " the bench said in a nearly 200
page judgement.
"This is apart from the fact that the appellant built up
a conspiracy by practising 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," the court said.
The apex court said that the act perpetrated by Ashfaq
fell under the category of rarest of rare offences warranting
death penalty.
"We, therefore, have no doubts that death sentence was
the only sentence in the peculiar circumstance of this case.
We, therefore, confirm the judgement of the trial Court and
the High Court convicting the accused and awarding death
sentence for the offences under Section 302, IPC.
We also confirm all the other sentences on all other
counts and dismiss these appeals," the court said.
The bench also rejected the argument of counsel Kamini
Jaiswal that the entire prosecution evidence rested on
circumstantial evidence and the convict was kept under illegal
detention for 4--5 days to extract his confession.
"Merely because the appellant was in custody for 4-5
days and decided to disclose the information only on
01.01.2001, would not be a reason by itself to doubt the same
or to have any suspicion on the same.
"In the case of this nature and magnitude and also
considering the nature of the appellant who was a Pakistani
national and was allegedly sent to do terrorist acts in India
and as such a tough terrorist, was not expected to give easily
the information unless he was thoroughly interrogated.
"Considering the peculiar nature of this case, we accept
the discovery of grenades at the instance of the appellant,
the bench said.
The apex court said this was a unique case where Red
Fort, a place of paramount importance for every Indian, was
attacked in which three soldiers lost their lives.
"An attack on a symbol like Red Fort was an assault on
the nation’s will and resolve to preserve its integrity and
sovereignty at all costs. It was a challenge not only to the
Army battalions stationed inside the monument but the entire
nation.
"It was a challenge to the very fabric of a secular
constitutional democracy this country has adopted and every
thing that is good and dear to our countrymen.
The apex court said Red Fort was so paramount for the
country that every year the Prime Minister addresses the
nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the eve of
Independence Day.
"It is a national symbol that evokes the feelings of
nationalism amongst the countrymen and reminds them of the
sacrifices that the freedom fighters made for the liberation
of this country from foreign rule.
"No one can ever forget the glorious moments when the
Indians irrespective of their religions fought their first
war of Independence and shed their blood. It was, therefore,
but natural for the foreigner enemies to plan an attack on the
army specially kept to guard this great monument.
In conspiring to bring about such kind of attack and
then carrying out their nefarious activities in systematic
manner to make an attack possible was nothing but an attempt
to question the sovereignty of India. Therefore, even without
any reference to any other case law, we held this case to be
the rarest of rare case," Justice Sirpurkar said justifying
the death sentence.
The apex court said a conspiracy to attack the Indian
Army unit stationed in Red Fort and the consequent unprovoked
attack cannot be described excepting as waging war against
India and there can be no question of compromising on this
issue.
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 had no place in India. Appellant
was a foreign national and had entered India without any
authorisation or even justification.