Alia's mother Soni Razdan calls terrorist Afzal Guru a 'scapegoat'
What's the story
The arrest of Jammu and Kashmir top cop, Davinder Singh, has raised a lot of questions, and one of them concerns Afzal Guru, a terrorist who was hanged for his role in Parliament attack of 2001. And Alia Bhatt's mother Soni Razdan feels Guru was made a scapegoat. While revealing her thoughts on Twitter, she demanded a probe into his conviction. Slow claps, please!
What happened
Razdan shared a news piece carrying Guru's letter
Razdan spoke about a probe while sharing an article of The Print, which carried contents of a letter that Guru wrote from prison. Guru, a native of Sopore in Kashmir, was hanged to death on February 9, 2013, inside Tihar jail. That his family wasn't informed about the execution and his body was buried, got the Indian government criticism from human rights organizations.
Letter
Guru recalled how he met Davinder and what happened later
Six years after his death, Guru has crept into headlines again after Davinder was arrested as the disgraced cop had interrogated the deceased terrorist. In the letter written to his lawyer Sushil Kumar, Guru referred to Davinder as "Dravinder" and revealed he was first introduced to him when Special Task Force's men picked him. He alleged being tortured for extortion at a police camp.
Quote
Was electrified for three hours: Guru
"They took me to Humhama STF camp where Davinder tortured me. One of his torture inspector as they called him Shanty Singh electrified me naked for 3 hours and made me drink water while giving electric shocks through telephone instrument (sic)," Guru wrote.
Extortion
Guru said his wife sold jewelry to pay Davinder money
Eventually, Guru agreed to pay Rs. 1,00,000 (?) to Davinder for which his family sold his wife's jewelry worth Rs. 80,000. "They took the scooter too which was just 2-3 months old which I bought for Rs. 24,000. Thus after getting 1 lakh rupees they let me free, (sic)" he added. But by then, he was a broken man, he said.
Details
Davinder asked me to transport Mohammed to Delhi, claimed Guru
After being released, a person named Altaf Hussain became the contact person between Guru and Davinder, the terrorist claimed. One day, the police officer asked Guru to do a "small job" of transporting one Mohammed to Delhi and arrange a rented accommodation for him. Though he never directly accused Davinder of being involved in Parliament Attack, he hinted "STF was part of the game".
Tweet
After explosive letter released, Razdan called execution 'travesty of justice'
Referring to the explosive letter, Razdan raised questions on Guru's death. She tweeted, "This is a travesty of justice. Who is going to bring back a man from the dead if he is innocent? There also needs to be a solid inquiry into why Afzal Guru was made the scapegoat." One wonders why does Bollywood end up siding with terrorists.
Twitter Post
"Who is going to bring back the dead?"
This is a travesty of justice. Who is going to bring back a man from the dead if he is innocent. This is why the death penalty is not to be used lightly. And this is why there also needs to be a solid enquiry into why Afzal Guru was made the scapegoat https://t.co/UUVV2Z9UGU
— Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) January 21, 2020
Judge's statement
Despite questions, judge feels Guru's case wouldn't have been affected
The letter and events concerning Davinder have definitely raised eyebrows, but one of the judges who held Guru guilty said the outcome wouldn't have been any different. Justice SN Dhingra, who convicted him, said the sentence was based on the evidence against him. "This doesn't make any difference to Guru's case, as that is now done with," Justice Dhingra said.