Iftikhar Gilani NEW DELHI, May 18: On the heels of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit denying any directive from the Centre to expedite recommendation on mercy plea of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, yet another letter landed in her Home Department on Monday to ensure Guru’s security in Tihar Jails where he awaits the death sentence.
Notwithstanding her denial, her own Principal Home Secretary on Monday admitted receipt of a letter from the Home Ministry dated April 27 asking the fate of Afzal's mercy petition to President Pratibha Patil.
Such correspondence is always addressed to the principal home secretary who as a norm shares the communication with Dikshit who herself holds the charge of the Home Department.
The Home Ministry sources said they keep reminding the concerned state government in routine manner and as such this is the 16th reminder to the Delhi government.
The latest missive from the Home Ministry is based on a petition submitted by Afzal to the President on March 3, fearing danger to his life from three professional killers lodged in his high security ward in Jail No 2 in Tihar.
His petition says: “Sabir Ali, son of Ahmed Ali, Sonu, son of Yaad Ram and Shahzad, son of A B Sattar are professional killers and threatened me on several occasions." On the death row, Afzal has a solitary cell within the ward but he comes in contact with other inmates several times during the day.
It is only during the night that he is under strict solitary confinement.
The Rashtrapati Bhawan forwarded his petition to the Home Ministry for comments and in turn the Ministry has written to Delhi Government to look into the apprehensions of Afzal Guru and ensure safety to him, besides giving an opinion on his mercy petition.
Afzal Guru is the lone convict awarded death sentence by a fast track court on December 18, 2002 in almost a year of the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001 for waging war against India and playing a role in the terror attack resulting in several deaths.
Delhi High Court upheld the verdict in October 2003 while the Supreme Court turned down his appeal in August 2005.
The district and sessions court fixed the date of his hanging in Tihar Jails on October 20, 2006.
The hanging is, however, put on hold in view of Afzal moving the President with a mercy petition.
Meanwhile Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday told reporters that she had forwarded the file to Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna.
The file will then be sent to the union home ministry.
