Congress leader P Chidambaram has refuted Home Minister Amit Shah's allegations regarding the delay in the execution of Afzal Guru, calling them a 'lie and distortion'.
Multiple schools in Delhi received bomb threat emails, leading to evacuations and security deployments. Authorities are investigating the source of the threats, which also mentioned a potential attack on Parliament.
The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea seeking the removal of the graves of terrorists Mohammad Afzal Guru and Mohammad Maqbool Bhatt from Tihar Jail, citing the absence of any law prohibiting burial inside jail premises and the government's decision to maintain law and order.
'...an hour before he was hanged from the film Badal, 'Apne liye jiye toh kya jiye'... 'I saw eight hangings -- Ranga and Billa, Maqbool Bhat, Kartar Singh and Ujagar Singh (Dr N S Jain murder case), Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh (Indira Gandhi assassination case) and Afzal Guru.'
A violent clash broke out between two groups of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Friday during a 'Visarjan Shobha Yatra' organised on the occasion of Vijayadashami, following the nine-day Navratri celebrations.
Swati Maliwal alleged that Atishi's family fought for terrorist Afzal Guru in order to save him from capital punishment.
It would be a real shame if after having demonstrated strong resolve in acting against terrorists like Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru, the government was to fritter away the gains on the altar of politics of appeasing fringe groups, says Sushant Sareen.
Professor S A R Geelani, who was arrested in connection with the Parliament attack case but later acquitted by the court, shares his shock with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa over Afzal Guru's hanging
Taking a step forward for a final view on the fate of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the home ministry has submitted his case to the President's secretariat for a decision.
Union Home Minister Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday denied that any decision has been taken with regard to the mercy petition filed by Afzal Guru, who has been given death sentence in the Parliament attack case.
With President Pratibha Patil rejecting the mercy petition of two convicts on death row, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday raised the pitch for the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and said the government was not bound to go by sequence while dealing with pending pleas.
The mobile internet services were suspended early in the morning as the authorities apprehended violence in the valley in view of the bandh call given by separatist outfits, the officials said.
Delhi Police are investigating a series of bomb threats targeting schools and colleges, sent via encrypted networks. The threats have caused panic and disruption, prompting increased security measures and a police investigation into the source and motives behind the emails.
The European Union has expressed regret over the hanging of the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and asked India to put a moratorium on executions.
Separatist JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has said that it was very unfortunate that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition was dismissed and he was hanged in secrecy.
In the wake of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, global rights groups have asked India to end the use of executions and move towards abolishing the death penalty.
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front on Friday warned of "consequences" if the Union home ministry's recommendation to the President to reject the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is implemented. "The responsibility for the consequences of acting in haste on the recommendation of the home ministry on Afzal Guru's mercy petition will rest with the government of India," Mirwaiz said.
"Mercy petition filed by Tabassum, wife of the Parliament House attack convict Afzal Guru, should be rejected. Nature of the crime committed is heinous and he deserves no mercy," a ministry note said. Guru was awarded the death sentence by a Delhi court on December 18, 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001, waging war against the country and murder.
After yet another reminder from the home ministry, the Delhi Government on Monday said it would send in the "shortest possible time" its opinion on the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday expressed disappointment over the hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru and appealed to the people of Kashmir to exercise restraint.
After the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the call for execution of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh has grown louder in Pakistan. Tahir Ali reports
An independent member of legislative assembly in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly has submitted a resolution to the speaker seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru.
Peoples Democratic Party leaders on Wednesday met the family of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru at Doabgah Sopore in north Kashmir.
In the competitive pre-poll attempt to show who is stronger in dealing with terrorism, the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party seem to have overlooked the mitigating factors and used Afzal Guru's execution as an unfortunate yardstick to establish their strong counter-terrorism credentials, says B Raman
Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru should be hanged at the earliest, senior Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said on Wednesay, differing from the cautious attitude of the All India Congress Committee on the contentious issue.
Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on Saturday morning at Tihar Jail, was buried inside the prison complex soon after his execution. "He (Guru) was buried near jail number three," said a top Tihar Jail official.
President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 3, leading to his hanging on Saturday, Union Home Secretary R K Singh has said. "The President rejected Afzal Guru's mercy petition on February 3. After that, we followed the jail manual and his hanging took place today," he told reporters.
B Raman assesses the likely threats to India from Afzal Guru's execution.
Members of the Bajrang Dal on Saturday celebrated the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
In a new twist, a top officer of the Jammu and Kashmir Postal Department on Monday said that a letter from Delhi addressed to the wife of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on Saturday, was delivered this morning.
On the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the attack on Parliament, the government and the opposition were on Monday locked in a war of words on the hanging of terrorist Afzal Guru. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj raised the pitch by stating that the country wants to know why Guru has not been hanged despite the Supreme Court confirming his punishment, but Home Minister P Chidambaram countered it by saying he had explained the exact status of the case.
An independent legislator, Engineer Abdul Rashid on Wednesday said that he will press for the release of all political prisoners and return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru in the upcoming budget session of the state assembly.
Rejecting Pakistan Parliament's resolution on execution of Afzal Guru, Lok Sabha on Friday termed it as interference in India's internal affairs and told it to desist from such acts of support for extremist and terrorist elements.
Curfew continued in Kashmir for the second day on Sunday following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru in Delhi's Tihar jail.
As soon as the House met on Tuesday morning, opposition Peoples Democratic Party members and the independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rashid raised the issue of the return of the mortal remains of Guru to his family. However, the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party members were on their toes countering the PDP members.
Activists of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Kashmiri groups organised protests against the execution of Afzal Guru in several Pakistani cities while the administration of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir announced three days of mourning.
Nearly three years after the hanging of Afzal Guru, Congress leader P Chidambaram said that he felt it was possible that the case was "perhaps not correctly decided".
The government on Wednesday said mercy petitions of 20 death row convicts, including Afzal Guru, are under various stages of consideration and that the Constitution does not specify any time limit within which a decision should be taken.
In its 271-page judgment delivered on August four, 2005, a division bench of Justice P V Reddi and Justice P P Naolekar had said there was clinching evidence against Guru regarding his nexus with the terrorists who carried out the "terrorist act of most diabolical nature".
A day after the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government assumed power in Jammu and Kashmir, a group of lawmakers from the Kashmiri party demanded that the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict be handed over to the family.
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