M A I N   N E W S

Can J-K Assembly debate SC’s Guru verdict?
Arun Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 3
A decision delivered by the Supreme Court cannot be discussed — this is the legal opinion that has emerged on the eve of the proposed discussion on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging and its aftermath in the state legislative Assembly tomorrow.

Legal Issue A proposed discussion on Afzal Guru’s hanging and its aftermath is slated to take place in the J&K Assembly on Monday Legal experts say once the Supreme Court has delivered its judgment it cannot be discussed under the law

This puts the whole issue in a quandary as Assembly Speaker Mubarak Gul had said he had admitted the adjournment motion for discussion in the House on Monday but that he had done so after the House was adjourned for the day amid uproar by the main Opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

Gul, before adjourning the House, had declared that he was “reserving” his judgment on the issue on Friday evening, but later in the day he told mediapersons that he had accepted the motion and would allow a debate on Monday.

The adjournment motion by the Treasury Benches is untenable because of the fact that the state government is not a party to the case. A Constitutional expert says under the law, once the Supreme Court has delivered the judgment it cannot be discussed.

“We cannot talk about it,” Zafar Shah, a lawyer and an expert on Constitutional matters, said on Sunday.

The adjournment motion revolves around two issues - the situation that has arisen in the aftermath of Afzal Guru’s hanging in New Delhi and the return of Guru’s body to his family. The Tihar jail manual makes it clear that once the executed person is buried or cremated on its premises, the remains cannot be removed thereafter.

The family can claim the property, but in this case the definition is different under the jail manual, which has been read minutely by security and legal experts.

Faced with such a legal situation, the security agencies are worried about the response it would generate if the body is not handed over to the family. The security agencies are apprehensive. “But our real nightmare is if the Centre allows the return of the body,” says a top security expert.

“If the body reaches the Srinagar airport, crowds running into several thousand may raise slogans in favour of the National Conference and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. But by the time it reaches Maisuma or Lal Chowk in the heart of the city, will the pro-NC slogans last? The crowds are likely to thin out. What happens when the procession reaches Guru’s village? The complexion of the crowd and the nature of slogans will change. It will neither help the NC nor the PDP or even Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has his own ambitions of becoming a martyr. Geelani’s village Dooru is only 2 km from Guru’s native village, Jigeer,” the security expert says. No one will gain from this kind of politics and the situation will deteriorate, resulting in poor tourist season this year, experts fear.