Afzal Guru to move SC for rejecting petition to shift him out of Tihar jail

Unhappy over government rejecting his plea for transfer from Tihar Jail to a central prison in Jammu and Kashmir, Parliament attack case convict Mohammed Afzal Guru, now on death row, plans to challenge the decision before the Supreme Court.

Security concerns were cited by the Union home ministry for turning down Afzal's petition on July 6.

"He(Afzal) has written to the home ministry and Delhi government that he wants to challenge the decision of rejection of his transfer from Tihar prison by the Union home ministry before the Supreme Court," official sources said today.

"Earlier, Guru's plea had been turned down because of security reasons," he said. Afzal had pleaded for his transfer so that his family could meet him.

Afzal was sentenced to death by a sessions court on December 18, 2002 for the  terror attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001. The death sentence was confirmed by the Delhi high court on October 29  2003 and by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005.