Fact Check: Did Atishi’s parents ‘fight a long battle’ to stop Afzal Guru's hanging?

Atishi is set to be Delhi chief minister after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs picked her to replace Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP chief resigned on Tuesday (September 17) to make way for the Delhi education minister to take over.

The AAP’s announcement of Kejriwal’s successor did not sit well with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its own Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal. The role of Atishi’s parents in trying to prevent the capital punishment of Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case, has come to haunt the AAP leader.

Let’s take a closer look.

What’s the row?

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal hit out at the party for choosing Atishi to replace Kejriwal as Delhi’s chief minister.

She said it was a “sad day for Delhi” that the woman whose family “fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from being hanged” is being elevated to the top post.

Calling Atishi a “dummy CM”, Maliwal wrote on X that the issue concerns India’s security.

She tweeted, “Today is a very sad day for Delhi. Today, a woman whose family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from being hanged is being made the chief minister of Delhi. Her parents wrote mercy petitions to the Honourable President to save terrorist Afzal Guru. According to them, Afzal Guru was innocent and was framed as part of a political conspiracy. Although Atishi Marlena is just a ‘dummy CM’, still this issue is related to the security of the country. May God protect Delhi!”

pic.twitter.com/YhS03gtkFt

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) September 17, 2024

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Reacting to Maliwal’s comments, the AAP lambasted its MP and asked her to quit. “Swati Maliwal is a person who takes the ticket to Rajya Sabha from AAP but takes the script to react from BJP. If she has even a little shame, she should resign as a Rajya Sabha MP and choose the path to Rajya Sabha on a BJP ticket. If she wants to be in Rajya Sabha, she should get a ticket from BJP,” senior AAP leader and chief whip in the Delhi Assembly, Dilip Pandey, said.

Maliwal had a fallout with the AAP after she accused Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her at the chief minister’s residence a few months back.

The BJP also slammed the AAP over Atishi’s ascent, accusing Kejriwal of picking a “puppet” CM. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also alleged that Atishi’s parents tried to stop Afzal Guru’s death penalty. “AAP government supports a person whose family tried to stop Afzal Guru’s hanging. The people of Delhi will never accept Naxal supporters,” he said.

Did Atishi’s parents try to stop Afzal Guru’s hanging?

On December 13, 2001, five terrorists entered the Parliament House complex and opened fire, killing nine people and injuring over 15 others.

Afzal Guru was found guilty and sentenced to death by a trial court in December 2002. The Delhi High Court upheld the capital punishment for him in October 2003. The death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court and a Delhi court ordered the hanging of Guru.

In October 2006, Afzal’s wife Tabasum Guru filed a mercy petition with the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. Atishi’s mother, Tripta Wahi, a retired Delhi University professor, was among the activists and professors who wrote a petition to the President that year, requesting him to dismiss Afzal’s death sentence.

“We, therefore, appeal to you to not only set aside the punishment given to Mohd. Afzal but also to facilitate a Parliamentary inquiry into the entire episode,” they wrote.

In January 2007, the Supreme Court had set aside Afzal Guru’s plea seeking review of his death sentence, saying “there is no merit” in it.

President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition on February 3, 2013. Six days later, Afzal Guru was hanged.

Over 200 academics, writers and filmmakers shot off a letter to the then-President Mukherjee, condemning the death of the convicted terrorist. Atishi’s mother was one of the signatories.

The letter read, “We write to you in deep anguish, despair but in outrage as well. Afzal Guru was hanged on Saturday (9th February 2013) in secrecy. We have been told – after the hanging – that you rejected the mercy petition filed by Guru’s wife Tabassum, on 3rd February. We believe that you made a grave error in rejecting the mercy petition.”

The parents of the Delhi CM-designate, retired professors Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi, were asked to appear before the Delhi Police for speaking at an event at the Press Club of India in February 2016 to mark the third anniversary of Afzal Guru’s hanging.

Former DU professor SAR Geelani was arrested for organising the event where slogans of Azadi were raised, as per The Hindu report.

Stepping up her attack on Atishi, Maliwal alleged on Wednesday (September 18) the AAP minister’s parents had “close ties” with Geelani.

आतिशी मर्लेना के माता पिता के SAR Geelani के साथ गहरे संबंध थे।

गिलानी पे आरोप थे कि संसद पे हमले में उनका भी हाथ था। 2016 में उन्होंने अफ़ज़ल गुरु की याद में दिल्ली के प्रेस क्लब में एक प्रोग्राम किया था। उस प्रोग्राम में आतिशी मर्लेना के माता पिता स्टेज पे गिलानी के साथ थे।… pic.twitter.com/BWmUN7fMJd

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) September 18, 2024

Atishi has previously addressed questions about her parents’ role in trying to stop Afzal Guru’s death sentence. Speaking to Amar Ujala in 2019, she said. “I am not responsible for any political action taken by the parents. It is their responsibility and accountability and they are fully capable of expressing their views. I can say, from my point of view, that I was not in support of that step.”

With inputs from agencies