New Delhi, May 18 (Inditop.com) A day after she refuted a newspaper report saying the Delhi government has received a reminder from the home ministry about its comments on the Afzal Guru mercy petition, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Tuesday said she had forwarded the file to Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna.
“I have sent the file,” Dikshit told reporters.
A senior Delhi government official said Guru’s file was sent to Khanna. The file will then be sent to the union home ministry.
Afzal Guru, a resident of Sopore in the Kashmir Valley, was found guilty of plotting the Dec 13, 2001, parliament attack and was sentenced to death by a trial court in December 2002. The Delhi High Court confirmed the death penalty in October 2003.
The Supreme Court in August 2005 upheld the capital punishment given to Guru for his role in the terror attack. Guru’s wife, Tabassum, filed a mercy petition to the president after the apex court verdict.
As per the laid down procedure, the president sought the home ministry’s views on the mercy petition in 2005.
The procedure on mercy petition also requires the home ministry to seek comments of the state government in whose jurisdiction the crime, for which the death penalty is awarded to the convict, has been committed.
