Dehi HC upholds Ashfaq's death sentence

Delhi, Sep 13: The Delhi High Court today upheld the death sentence against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Mohd Arif alias Ashfaq and acquitted six others sentenced in the Red Fort shootout case of 2000.

A division bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin upheld the lower court's decision which had sentenced Ashfaq to death in the case.

The court was satisfied with the evidence produced by the prosecution against him, which had held that he had waged a war against India.

The court observed that there was sufficient proof against Ashfaq which showed his involvement in the crime. The court acquitted six convicts as the police failed to prove charges against them. Ashfaq's wife Rehmana Yousuf Farooqui, Babar Mohsin Baghwala, Matloob Alam, Sadaqat Ali, Kashmiri conspirator Nazir Ahmed Qasid and his son Farooq Ahmed Qasid have been acquitted of charges of waging a war against India.

The trial court had awarded death sentence to Ashfaq in 2005 and life imprisonment to his Kashmiri co-conspirator Nazir Ahmed Qasid and his son for their involvement in the conspiracy.

Rehmana, Babar Mohsin Baghwala, Sadaqat Ali and Matloob Alam were sentenced to seven years RI and held guilty under Sections 216 (harbouring offenders) and 118 (non-disclosure of conspiracy).

The prosecution had appealed in the High Court for enhancement of Nazir and his son's punishment from life imprisonment to death sentence and from seven years to life imprisonment for for three other accused.

UNI