On the night of December 22, 2000, terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba entered the Red Fort and gunned down three soldiers of 7 Rajputana Rifles. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the terrorists were assisted by 22 people including, Mohd. Arif alias Ashfaq/Abu Hamad, a Pakistani national who had entered the Indian territory illegally and was awarded a death sentence in 2005. Incidentally, Arif once shouted in a courtroom in front of Sessions Judge MS Sabharwal at Delhi's Tis Hazari court that he will not get justice from courts, but has managed to delay his death sentence using the same courts. His mercy petition was recently rejected by President Droupadi Murmu in May 2024.
On October 24, 2005, after a long trial, the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi, OP Saini convicted seven out of the 11 accused persons presented for trial by the state, and awarded death sentence to the main convict Mohammed Arif, a Lashkar-e-Taiba member from Pakistan.
Hearing an appeal against the order, the Delhi High Court vide judgment dated September 13, 2007 passed by Justice RS Sodhi and Justice PK Bhasin upheld the conviction and death sentence to Arif but acquitted the remaining accused.
Arif appealed to the Supreme Court against the high court order, but the top court too rejected his appeal on August 10, 2011, calling the attack an "undeclared war by some foreign mercenaries".
In 2012, Arif filed a review petition against the death sentence, which was rejected. A curative petition was rejected too by the Supreme Court in January 2014.
He filed another writ petition in the top court the same year, arguing that death sentence cases should be heard by a bench of at least three judges. A five-judge Constitution Bench agreed with his argument.
The case was then placed before a three-judge bench led by former Chief Justice UU Lalit. On November 3, 2022, the Supreme Court's three-judge bench rejected the plea, finding that "there was a direct attack on the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India".
More than two decades since the December 2000 Red Fort attack that killed three Army personnel, and after a long legal battle, President Droupadi Murmu in May this year turned down the mercy petition of Arif.
There is no news yet on his execution, though.
The sessions court files recently shared on Delhi High Court's e-Museum, contains the entire record of the trial and appeal and provides valuable insights into the circumstances surrounding this case. Records show that court proceedings in the Red Fort attack case witnessed high-voltage drama on several occassions. One report recorded in court suggested that Arif paid Rs 10 lakh to his wife Rehman Yusuf Farooqi, who was a co-accused in the case and an Indian national, to marry him.
On several occasions, the main accused Mohd. Arif and his wife created ruckus in Delhi's Tis Hazari Court. He cliamed that he was being discriminated against, was meted differential treatment from other accused as he was from Pakistan. In one of the hearings, Arif appealed to the court to either remove his handcuffs and chains from his feet or sentence him without hearing. In another hearing, he was seen shouting in court to get his chains removed. His shouting was accompanied by his wife's appeals. He shouted in front of the sitting judge at Tis Hazari court that he won't get any justice from the court as he was from Pakistan.
One shocking instance which is recorded in case files through various media reports, is where Arif's lawyer RM Tufail slapped a sub-inpector present in court in front of the judge at Tis Hazari court.
Following the slapping incident, the police registered a case of threatening and obstructing a government official on duty against advocate R M Tufail who later apologised for the incident.
The judge also recorded the disruption as well as Tufail's apology in judicial proceedings.
The incident occured when witness Mohammad Khalid came to the court to give his statement. Khalid had sold the computers to Arif who used them to set-up an institute in Okhla.
When sub-inspector Harender Singh produced the computers before the Tis Hazari court, the lawyer appearing for Arif claimed that the seal of the computer was broken. When Tufail attempted to handle the seal, Singh removed the computer saying the advocate was not permitted to touch it.
An enraged Tufail threatened to slap the sub-inspector inside the court in front of the judge. Singh answered back following which Tufail slapped him. The sub-inspector was immediately taken to Aruna Asaf Ali hospital for a medical, a news report recoded in the court documents said.
Below are the screenshots of records from court files recording the incidents.
