2000 Red Fort Attack: Supreme Court to Examine Curative Plea of Death Row Convict Mohammed Arif

The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Vikram Nath and J.K. Maheshwari issued notice in the matter after brief submissions were made on behalf of the convict.

During the hearing, counsel for Mohammad Arif submitted that while the death sentence had been upheld earlier in appeal as well as in review, subsequent jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, including its decision in Manoj v. State of Haryana, warranted reconsideration of the case at the curative stage.

The Bench discussed the submissions and, noting the limited scope of the curative jurisdiction, directed issuance of notice. “Issue notice,” CJI Surya Kant said, to which the counsel responded, “Most grateful.”

Mohammad Arif was convicted for his role in the December 2000 terrorist attack on the Red Fort in Delhi, one of the most high-profile terror strikes on a sensitive military installation, which resulted in the death of three Army personnel. His death sentence has survived scrutiny through the appellate and review stages before the Supreme Court.

With the issuance of notice, the Apex Court will now examine whether the case meets the stringent threshold required for interference under its curative jurisdiction.

Notably, in June 2024, President Droupadi Murmu had rejected the mercy plea of 2000 Red Fort attack convict Mohammed Arif, who was sentenced to death for his role in the attack which resulted in the deaths of three Army personnel. The decision came after the Supreme Court dismissed Arif's review petition on November 3, 2022, upholding his conviction and death sentence. The Court had found no mitigating circumstances in his favour, emphasising that the attack posed a direct threat to India’s unity, integrity and sovereignty.

The Red Fort attack occurred on the night of December 22, 2000, when intruders opened fire at the 7 Rajputana Rifles unit stationed within the Red Fort premises, killing three Army personnel. The attackers fled by scaling the rear-side boundary wall. Arif was arrested by Delhi Police four days later and found to be a Pakistani national and member of the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. Arif was found guilty of conspiring with other militants to carry out the attack.

The trial court sentenced Arif to death in October 2005, a decision upheld by the Delhi High Court in September 2007 and the Supreme Court in August 2011. The trial court stated that the conspiracy was hatched at the house of two conspirators in Srinagar, where Arif had illegally entered in 1999 with three other LeT militants. The other three militants—Abu Shaad, Abu Bilal, and Abu Haider, were killed in separate encounters.

Arif's legal battle included a review petition dismissed by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court in August 2012 and a curative petition rejected in January 2014. Arif later sought a review of his petitions by a three-judge bench in open court. In September 2014, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that death sentence cases be listed before a three-judge bench. In January 2016, another Constitution Bench ruled that Arif could seek to reopen the dismissal of his review petitions for an open court hearing within one month.

Nonetheless, on November 3, 2022, the Supreme Court once again rejected his review petition. A three-judge bench comprising the then Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, and Justice Bela M. Trivedi reviewed the petition. The bench noted that there was no evidence suggesting a possibility of Arif's retribution and rehabilitation. The Supreme Court's order had stated, "Appellant-accused Mohd. Arif alias Ashfaq was a Pakistani national and had entered the Indian territory illegally.”

Interestingly, this was the second mercy plea President Murmu has rejected since assuming office on July 25, 2022. In April 2023, she turned down the plea of Vasant Sampat Dupare, who was convicted of raping and killing a four-year-old girl in Nagpur.