New Delhi, August 3
The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict in the sensitive Parliament attack case tomorrow to finally decide the fate of two Kashmiri militants awarded capital punishment and city college lecturer S.A.R. Geelani, whose acquittal has been challenged by the Delhi Police.
Geelani, who was also awarded death sentence by the trial court, was acquitted by the Delhi High Court, giving him benefit of doubt, while a lone woman accused, given five years imprisonment was also cleared of the case by the High Court.
Delhi Police had also challenged the acquittal of woman accused, Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan, the wife of Shaukat Hussain, one of the two convicted militants, given the death sentence.
Navjot Sandhu had been awarded five years imprisonment by the trial court for concealing the conspiracy hatched by her husband and the other militant, Mohammed Afzal, who had got training in Pakistan, to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001 with the help of five Pakistani terrorists, killed by security forces in a daring operation.
Shaukat Hussain and Afzal were awarded capital punishment on three counts — under POTA for indulging in terrorist activities, under IPC for causing mass murders and waging war against the country.
Both of them have also challenged their conviction and award of death sentence.
A Bench of Mr Justice P.V. Reddi and Mr Justice P.P. Naolekar had reserved the Judgement on May 4 after six-month-long hearing on the appeals by convicts and Delhi Police. Justice Reddi, heading the Bench, will be retiring on August 10.
