HC refuses PIL seeking removal of Afzal Guru, Maqbool Bhat graves from Tihar Jail premises

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea seeking the removal of Mohammad Afzal Guru and Mohammad Maqbool Bhatt’s graves from Tihar Jail.

Both Guru and Bhatt had been sentenced to death and executed at Tihar Jail. Observing the court’s stance, the petitioners’ counsel requested permission to withdraw the petition and refile it with additional data. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, allowed the withdrawal, treating the PIL as “dismissed as withdrawn.”

The court remarked, “To seek relief in a PIL, one must demonstrate a violation of constitutional, fundamental, or statutory rights. No law or rule prohibits cremation or burial within jail premises.”

The plea, filed by Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh and Jitendra Singh, had argued that the graves’ presence inside a state-controlled prison was “illegal, unconstitutional, and against public interest.” Advocate Varun Kumar Sinha, representing the petitioners, contended that Tihar Jail had become a site of “radical pilgrimage,” where extremist elements venerate convicted terrorists, undermining national security and public order.

The bench questioned the petitioners on the availability of data to support claims that individuals visit the graves to pay homage.

The PIL also cited the Delhi Prisons Rules, 2018, which mandate that the bodies of executed prisoners be disposed of in a manner preventing glorification, maintaining prison discipline, and safeguarding public order. The petition sought directions to relocate the graves to secure, undisclosed locations, citing precedent in the cases of executed terrorists such as Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon.

Bhatt, executed in 1984, and Guru, hanged in February 2013, had carried out acts of terrorism under extremist ideologies, the plea noted, threatening India’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security.