'The file has been pending with the Delhi government for last five years. Why has the government been sitting over it', senior BJP leader Harshavardhan said.
BJP today accused the Delhi government of "deliberately delaying" clearance of a file pertaining to the mercy-petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and demanded completing the process "as soon as possible".
"The file has been pending with the Delhi government for last five years. Why the government has been sitting over it. It should be cleared as soon as possible," senior BJP leader Harsvardhan said in the assembly, raising the issue during a special mention.
The BJP leader said he had filed an RTI application to the home department of the city government in December last year asking it whether a time frame has been fixed to clear the file.
"But in the RTI reply, the department said it has not finalised any time limit to clear it. This is very surprising. We want to know why the government was delaying clearance of a file that pertains to punishing a culprit who was involved in attacking the highest seat of the parliamentary democracy," he said.
The Supreme Court had in 2005 upheld the verdict of a trial court which had awarded capital punishment to Guru for his role in the conspiracy behind the December 13, 2001, terror attack on Parliament.
The sentence was stayed after Guru filed a mercy petition to the President.
The Union home ministry, which received the mercy petition from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, had sent the file to the Delhi government, as according to law the view of the concerned state government is taken in whose territory the crime has taken place.
The BJP had tried to exploit the issue during the assembly election in the city in 2008.
Later talking to reporters, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly wondered why chief minister Sheila Dikshit was maintaining silence on the issue.
"Her silence is shocking. The file has been pending with the government for last five years," he said.
Malhotra said during interrogation Pakistani-American David Headley had revealed that Delhi is a prominent target of the terrorists.
"We must punish Afzal Guru to send a strong message that we will show no leniency in dealing with terrorism," Malhotra said.
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