BJP seeks discussion in Lok Sabha on delay in Afzal Guru's hanging

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has given a notice for the suspension of Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The party wants to discuss the delay in hanging the Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru.

Thursday marks 11 years of the terrorist attack on Parliament that left nine people dead in 2001. Parliamentarians will pay their respects to the security officers, who lost their lives in the 2001 attack. Meanwhile, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that a decision on convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition will be taken after the current Parliament session ends.

On Wednesday, the widow of one of the security personnel killed in the strike appealed to the government to carry out death sentence on Guru. Delhi Police Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Nanak Chand lost his life in the attack and was posthumously conferred with a bravery award in recognition of his sacrifice. His wife Gangadevi, however, said his family members had returned that medal to the government to press for Guru's execution.

Sushil Kumar Shinde had said that a decision on Afzal Guru\'s mercy plea will be taken after the current Parliament session.

President of All-India Anti-Terrorism Front, Maninderjit Singh Bitta also demanded that Guru should be executed. Gangadevi appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to respect the wishes of the family members of the martyred security personnel who wanted justice to be done in the case.

She said that the late ASI's father, 80-year-old Mangeram, himself a retired police constable, was living with the hope that the government would do justice to his son and his surviving family members. Afzal Guru was sentenced to death on December 18, 2002, by a trial court, which was upheld by the Delhi High Court on October 29, 2003.

His appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005. His mercy plea is pending and Shinde has said he will study the file after Parliament's winter session ends on December 22.

With additional information from PTI

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