SRINAGAR: Afzal Guru’s family has requested authorities of Delhi’s Tihar jail to allow them to perform his last rites in accordance with Islamic traditions.
Guru, convicted for plotting an attack on the Indian parliament in 2011, was hanged early Saturday as the President had rejected his petition for mercy.
A letter to the Tihar Jail Director General Vimla Mehra, written by Guru’s lawyer ND Pancholi on behalf of his wife, says the family learnt about the execution from national TV.
“They were denied the basic human right of meeting Afzal,” NDTV quoted the letter as having stated.
“We are writing to you to please permit the family members to give Afzal Guru proper dignified last rites in accordance with the religious traditions…If you could inform us when the family members can perform the ‘Namaaz-e-Janaza’, we would appreciate it.”
Namaaz-e-Janaza is the Islamic funeral prayer which is a part of the funeral ritual. The prayer is performed in congregation to seek pardon for the deceased and all dead Muslims.
In Kashmir, where an undeclared curfew has been clamped on all major cities and towns, funeral prayers were held for Guru inabsentia.
The letter to Tihar authorities states that “We do not wish to make it a political issue in an atmosphere which is already volatile but the family members, as citizens of India, have a right, which must be respected.”
The Union Home Secretary this morning refuted allegations that Guru’s family had not been informed about the decision to execute him. He said word had been sent to them both by speed post and a registered letter.
