Want Supreme Court to spare others this torture: Afzal Guru's family

Sopore: The family of Afzal Guru, who was hanged in February for his role in the attack on parliament in 2001, says it will fight in the Supreme Court to ensure the manner in which his execution was handled is not repeated.

"We cannot bring back Afzal who met such a cruel fate. The authorities were insensitive and did not allow him to meet his family one last time. But perhaps we can ensure that no other family undergoes the same trauma," said Aijaz Guru, Afzal's older brother.

Two days after he had been executed and buried at Delhi's Tihar Jail, 43-year-old Guru's family in Sopore in Kashmir received a letter about his hanging, stirring waves of protest across the Kashmir Valley.

Last week, the Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir warned against "repeating the mistakes" of Guru's case.

Guru's family is hoping that the Supreme Court will suo moto (or of its own accord ) set down rules to insist that families are allowed to meet  a death row prisoner one last time before the convict is executed.

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If that does not happen, Guru's family will move the Supreme Court, Aijaz Guru told the Press Trust of India.

"We cannot ensure that those responsible for such a mix up will be punished but by moving the Supreme Court we can ensure that this will be the last case and no one faces this kind of harassment," Aijaz Guru said.

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Aijaz, who last met Afzal in prison in September last year, recalled, "All the 30 meetings that I had with him in jail in the last 12 years will remain fresh in my mind forever."