The Supreme Court Wednesday reserved its verdict on a petition by Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq challenging his death sentence in the Dec 22, 2000 Red Fort attack case.
The apex court bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice T.S. Thakur reserved the verdict on the conclusion of arguments by Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium and Arif’s counsel Kamini Jaiswal.
Arif challenged the Delhi High Court verdict upholding his death sentence by the trial court of Additional Session Judge O.P. Saini.
Arif was convicted for murder, waging war against the government of India and conspiracy.
Militants stormed the Red Fort Dec 22, 2000 and attacked an army camp. Their indiscriminate firing resulted in the death of three army personnel.
Eleven accused including Arif were put to trial and the (trial) court by its Oct 24, 2005 order sentenced Arif to death and six others to varying sentences. It acquitted the other four.
Arif appealed in high court against the trial court verdict. The high court confirmed the death sentence awarded to him, but acquitted the other six Sep 13, 2007.
