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Supreme Court of India 2022-11-03 dismissed

MOHD. ARIF @ ASHFAQ vs STATE (NCT OF DELHI)

Bench: 3 — Uday Umesh Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, Bela M. Trivedi

In Brief

On 22 December 2000, intruders attacked an Indian Army unit at Red Fort in Delhi, killing three soldiers. Mohd. Arif, a Pakistani national, was convicted and sentenced to death. His review petition challenged the admissibility of call detail records (CDRs) lacking proper certification, disclosure statements made under duress, and claimed rehabilitation prospects. The Court held that while CDRs without Section 65B(4) certificates are inadmissible (following Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer), remaining circumstantial evidence—disclosure statements, recovered weapons, money transactions—independently proved guilt. The Court found no material supporting rehabilitation claims and noted that direct attacks on national sovereignty by foreign terrorists constitute the rarest of rare cases warranting death penalty, with aggravating circumstances far outweighing any mitigating factors. Review petition dismissed.

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Criminal Procedure Evidence Law Terrorism Death Sentence Waging War Electronic Evidence Red Fort Attack Sentencing

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