The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider the curative petition filed by convicted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq, who was awarded the death penalty in the 2000 Red Fort terror attack case that left three Indian Army personnel dead.
A special bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and comprising Justices Vikram Nath and J.K. Maheshwari, issued notice on the curative plea, which represents the last judicial remedy available to a convict after the dismissal of review and appeal petitions.
On the night of December 22, 2000, armed intruders infiltrated the Red Fort premises in Delhi, where the 7 Rajputana Rifles unit of the Indian Army was stationed. They opened indiscriminate fire, killing three jawans. The attack, later attributed to the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, was seen as a direct assault on national security and military presence in the capital.
Arif was arrested in connection with the attack and faced trial under the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and other relevant provisions. In October 2005, the trial court awarded him the death penalty. The Delhi High Court upheld the conviction and sentence in September 2007.
Arif had challenged the High Court ruling before the Supreme Court, which dismissed his appeal and confirmed the death penalty in August 2011. A subsequent review petition was also rejected by the top court on November 3, 2022.
His curative petition, filed thereafter, cites developments and legal principles articulated in later Supreme Court judgments, which he argues were not considered earlier.
On Thursday, the bench heard brief submissions from Arif’s counsel seeking re-examination of the case in light of those later rulings. “Issue notice,” said CJI Surya Kant, signaling the court’s willingness to hear the matter on merits despite it having been upheld at multiple judicial stages over more than two decades.
A curative petition is a rare remedy invoked after the dismissal of a review petition and is decided by the judges in chambers. It is intended to prevent miscarriage of justice and to correct gross errors that may have crept in despite prior judicial scrutiny.
Arif’s curative plea, now admitted for hearing, places the final spotlight on one of the most high-profile terror cases tried under India’s anti-terror laws post-Kargil war era.
