ibnlive.com
New Delhi: Mohammad Afzal, prime accused in the December 2001 Parliament attack case, will be hanged in Delhi's Tihar jail on October 20.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur while issuing the order of execution, to be carried out at 0600 hrs, IST at Tihar Jail in New Delhi on October 20, said Baramulla resident Afzal be hanged by neck until dead.
However, Tihar jail spokesman Sunil Kumar Gupta said he had received no official intimation on hanging Mohammad Afzal.
"We have no official intimation on this. Unless we receive the orders we cannot comment on the issue," while informing that the mercy petition of the accused was still pending with the government, though sources maintained that the expiry duration of the petition was over.
On the jail preparedness to hang the accused, he said this could be done within no time after a direction to this effect comes. "Our preparedness depends on the type of orders we get."
The last time any hanging took place in Tihar jail was on January 6, 1989, when Satwant Singh and Beant Singh – accused in the killing of former prime minister Indira Gandhi – were executed.
Afzal's death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005, which also changed the capital punishment awarded to Shaukat Hussain Guru to ten years of rigorous imprisonment.
Special POTA court had sentenced Mohammed Afzal to death along with Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani and Shaukat Hussain Guru on December 18, 2002.
The court had also sentenced Afsan Guru, wife of Shaukat Hussain Guru, to five years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for concealing knowledge of the conspiracy.
Parliament Attack: Total Recall
In what was probably the most audacious terror attack on India, terrorists entered Parliament House premises breaching security at gate number 12 and started indiscriminate firing from AK-47 rifles and hurled grenades, killing six Delhi policemen and a Parliament employee. Five terrorists were also killed in the shootout.
The security breach took place at around 1145 hrs just as the two Houses had been adjourned following an uproar over the coffin scam and parliamentarians were preparing to leave the House. Several Union ministers and hundreds of MPs were inside Parliament when the attack took place.
The Army was called in. Black Cat commandos and police personnel rushed to the spot and all entry and exit points were sealed before the security forces engaged the rebels in a lock-down and mop-up operation, killing all the terrorists on the spot.
Parliament attack: Chronology of events
December 13, 2001: Five Pakistani terrorists attack Parliament House. Nine security personnel killed, 16 other injured.
December 14, 2001: India asks Pakistan to act against LeT, JeM.
December 15, 2001: Police arrest Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani, Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain and his wife Navjot Sandhu. A laptop and Rs. 10 lakh recovered from Afzal and Shaukat in Srinagar.
December 16, 2001: The then Delhi police Chief Ajai Raj Sharma says Pakistan supervised the attack, Pakistan calls for joint probe.
December 18, 2001: Home Minister L K Advani blames ISI for the attack, PM Vajpayee rejects call for joint probe.
December 19, 2001: Pakistan rejects Advani's charge, demands evidence.
December 22, 2001: Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain and S A R Geelani confirm their confessional statements recorded by DCP Special Cell Ashok Chand.
December 24, 2001: US, UK, EU issue demarche to Pakistan, demand ban on LeT, JeM.
December 25, 2001: JeM Chief Masood Azhar arrested in Pakistan, LeT, Tameer-e-Nau bank accounts frozen.
With Agency inputs
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur confirmed today that Mohammed Afzal, a militant attached to the Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, would be executed on 20 October for his role in the attempted  attack on the Indian Parliament building in 2002. 

On 13 December 2001, at 11:45 a.m. local time(UTC+5:30), just as the MPs were preparing to leave the House, militants armed with AK-47s and hand-grenades breached the security at Gate No.12 of the Parliament Building and opened indiscriminate fire, killing six policemen and one Parliament employee. The Army, along with police and NSG "Black Cats" sealed the area and killed all five gunmen in a "lock-down mop-up" operation. 

The attack increased tensions between India and Pakistan, which was accused by India of   providing support to the Kashmiri militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, involved in the attack.

A special court had earlier sentenced Delhi University lecturer S. Geelani, Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru to death under Section 3(2) of POTA (indulging in terrorist acts leading to deaths) and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder). The court also fined  Shaukat Hussain's wife, Afsan Guru Rs. 10,000 and sentenced her to five years rigorous imprisonment for concealing details of the plot. A Delhi High court ruling, however, later acquitted Afsana Guru and Geelani.

On 4 August 2005, a Supreme Court bench including Justice P V Reddy and Justice P V Neolkar confirmed the death penalty for Mohammed Afzal and sentenced Shaukat Hussain Guru to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for concealing details of the conspiracy, thereby sparing him the gallows. Although the Supreme Court upheld Geelani's acquittal, it observed that his actions were not above suspicion and seemed to have supported the attack.