New Delhi (February 09, 2013): It is learnt that India executed another death row convict on February 09, 2013. A Kashmiri muslim Afzal Guru who was convited by India courts in Parliament attack case, was hanged in the Tihar Jail at 8 a.m. on February 09, 2013 in Delhi. The execution has reportedly taken place in less than a week after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his review plea.
“Afzal Guru was hanged at 8 a.m.,” Home Secretary R.K. Singh reportedly said.
“We received the president’s rejection of his mercy plea on Feb 3. We moved accordingly then,” he reportedly added.
It is notable that Afzal Guru’s death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2004. His hanging was scheduled for October 2006, but was stayed after his wife filed a petition before president of India.
Asked if he had been kept in the loop, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said: “Absolutely.”
He told CNN-IBN that Guru’s body will be buried within the jail campus, according to the jail manual rules, and not handed over to his relatives in Kashmir.
The burial would be done according to religious rites, he reportedly added.
“As per jail manual, the burial of a convict is held inside the prison campus,” he said.
He also said he did not apprehend any law and order problems.
A curfew has been clamped in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been repeatedly demanding the execution of Afzal Guru and questioned the delay in his hanging, welcomed the execution, but said it was a “delayed decision”.
There are reports that Afaz Guru’s hanging had took place secretly and his family was not informed about the decision of President of India.