Afzal Guru was a Kashmiri militant who was the mastermind of 2001 Parliament Attack in which 7 people were killed. Â He was hanged to death at 8 AM on February 9, 2013 at Tihar Jail, New Delhi.
He belonged to Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. He had completed the first year of his MBBS course and was preparing for competitive exams. However, he became a member of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front where he received terrorist training. Unhappy with the situation there, he moved back to Kashmir and surrendered to the Border Security Force. In a 2011 interview to Tehelka, he stated that his family had probably been Brahmins around seven centuries ago under Sikandars rule.
His native place is Sopore and he was doing a commission agency business. It was during this business venture that he came into contact with Tariq of Anantnag , who motivated him to join Jihad for liberation of Kashmir and assured him of financial assistance.
Afzal Guru was initially a member of the JKLF terrorist outfit. Guru, according to his own interviews with various newspapers, had admitted that he rejoined militancy after  Tariq Ahmad motivated him to join ‘jehad’ for the liberation of Kashmir by launching attacks on various embassies and Indian institutions. Tariq, according to Guru’s own version introduced him to one Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist in Ghaziabad in Pakistan, who motivated him to launch an attack on the Parliament.
The attack was conducted jointly by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM). Seven members of the security forces, including a female constable, were killed, as were the five still incompletely identified men who carried out the attack.
Following were the charges against Afzal Guru:
- Recovery of explosives from his place of hideout in Delhi.
- Conspiring to commit and knowingly facilitated the commission of a terrorist act or acts preparatory to terrorist act and also voluntarily harboured and concealed the deceased terrorists knowing that such persons were terrorists and were the members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned terrorist organisation, which is involved in acts of terrorism and hence committed an offence punishable Under Section 3(3) (4) and (5) of Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act.
- Possession ofÂ
 10 Lakhs given to him by the terrorists who were killed by the police when they had attacked the Parliament of India.
He was arrested along with Shaukat and later on explosives were found from their hideout in Delhi. Eighty witnesses were examined for the prosecution and ten were examined for defense. The judgment mentions:
- “The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”[5]
On December 19, 2001 he made a confession of the offenses which was recorded and was signed by him. He also confirmed having made the confessional statement without any threat or pressure.
He was convicted for the offenses under Sections 121, 121A, 122, Section 120B read with Sections 302 & 307 read with Section 120B IPC, sub-Sections (2), (3) & (5) of Section 1, 3(4), 4(b)of POTA and Sections 3 & 4 of Explosive Substances Act. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment on as many as eight counts under the provisions of IPC, POTA and Explosive Substances Act in addition to varying amounts of fine.
The Supreme Court had ordered hanging of Guru in 2004, after he was charged with facilitating the attack on Parliament in 2001. But Guru’s wife made an appeal to the President for mercy after his execution was scheduled in 2006. Till then the mercy petition was pending with the President’s office.
On 3 February 2013, his mercy petition was rejected by the President of India. He was hanged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail around 08:00 am on February 9, 2013.
On 16 November 2012, the President had sent back to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seven cases, including the one on Afzal Guru. The President wanted home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to take a relook at the MHA opinion given during his predecessor P. Chidambaram’s tenure. On 10 December, Shinde said he will look at the file after the winter session of the Parliament concludes on December 20.  On 3rd February 2013, his mercy petition was rejected by the President Of India. Afzal Guru was hanged till death on 9th feb 2013.