Tihar Jail to approach HC after CIC ordered disclosure of details of execution of Afzal Guru

More than a month after CIC had ordered that details of execution of Afzal Guru be disclosed, Tihar Jail has now sent a letter to the Aligarh- based RTI applicant Paras Nath Singh.The letter, sent by Director General of Prisons at Tihar reportedly states "It is informed that Prison Department is going to file an appeal before the High Court of Delhi against the decision of CIC,"However, as per reports, Mr. Singh has said,"They (Tihar) cannot stay the operation of CIC order which is binding on them unless they get the stay from the High Court. It has been more than a month that they neither went to high court nor complied with the CIC order,"The Central Information Commission on October 1 had ordered that certified copy of death warrant for the execution of AfzalGuru,copy of communication sent to family members of Afzalabout the date of execution with date and dispatch number, relevant extract of rules and regulation through which theexecution is generally carried in Tihar Jail be provided.Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu in his order had also stated that, the name or designation of authority who has fixedthe date of execution of Afzal Guru need not be disclosed. And ‘not to give the video recording of execution, but inform whether itwas recorded.’The Commission had also ordered that, Public Authority must ‘reexamine with due application of mind what information could begiven after separating it from what could not be given regarding point 8, and ifit is difficult to separate or block certain names and sentences of thecorrespondence, they may choose to narrate the process of fixation of datefor execution and time provided for the communication about the same, as the appellant doubting sufficiency of time given to family members about his execution.’The Commission had ordered that the required information must be given within 10 days. It had also said, ‘Any RTI Application (in this case seeking details of Afzal Guru execution) cannot be rejected lock,stock and barrel without application of mind and citing exception under Section 8 withoutjustifying the defence.’Afzal Guru was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament. He was hanged on February 9, 2013. Later on, Amnesty International had said that Hanging of Afzal Guru was in violation of International Standards of Death Sentence and Execution.

Tihar Jail to approach HC after CIC ordered disclosure of details of execution of Afzal Guru

Gaurav Pathak

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