Mercy petition of Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Arif alias Ashfaq convicted in the nearly 24-year-old Red Fort attack case has been rejected by President Droupadi Murmu, officials said on Wednesday. This is the second mercy plea rejected by the President after assuming office on July 25, 2022. The Supreme Court had dismissed a review petition by Arif on November 3, 2022, affirming the death penalty awarded to him in the case. However, a death row convict can still knock on the doors of the top court seeking commutation of his sentence on the ground of prolonged delay under Article 32 of the Constitution, feel experts.

 

The mercy petition from Arif, received on May 15, was turned down on May 27, the officials said, quoting the President’s Secretariat order of May 29. The Supreme Court, while upholding the death sentence, noted that there were no mitigating circumstances in Arif’s favour and emphasised that the attack on the Red Fort posed a direct threat to country’s unity, integrity, and sovereignty.

 

The attack on December 22, 2000 saw intruders opening fire at the 7 Rajputana Rifles unit stationed within Red resulting in the deaths of three Army personnel. Arif, a Pakistani national and a member of banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), was arrested by Delhi Police four days after the attack. “Appellant-accused Mohd Arif alias Ashfaq was a Pakistani national and had entered the Indian territory illegally,” the top court’s order of 2022 had said. Arif was found guilty of conspiring with other militants to carry out the attack, with the trial court sentencing him to death in October 2005. The Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the decision in subsequent appeals.