Afzal Guru case was perhaps not correctly decided: Chidambaram

25 February, New Delhi

Former Union Minister P Chidambaram has expressed doubt about the extent of Afzal Guru’s involvement in the 2001 Parliament attack and said the matter was ‘perhaps not correctly decided’.

It was possible to hold an honest opinion on the case of the Parliament attack convict, the Economic Times quoted him as saying. It was during the tenure of UPA, in which Chidamabaram was Home Minister, that Afzal Guru’s mercy plea was rejected.”There were grave doubts about his involvement and even if he was involved, there were great doubts about the extent of his involvement.

He could have been imprisoned for life without parole for the rest of his natural life,” the Economic Times quoted him as saying. The former Finance and Home minister said that the government of the time could not have held the court decision wrong, but ”an independent person can hold an opinion that the case was not decided correctly”.

Chidambaram also said that branding someone holding a similar opinion as ‘anti-national’ was not fair.He also found the sedition charge against JNU students as ‘outrageous’.

Chidambaram’s statements came in the midst of the raging JNU controversy, triggered by the holding of an event to commemorate the death anniversary of Afzal Guru, during which anti-India slogans were raised.

Parliament today finished a stormy debate on the issue.