New Delhi: December 13, 2021, marks twenty years since the Parliament was attacked by five terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - two Pakistan based terrorists organisations.
It has been 20 years since these attacks and the nation remembers one of the ghastly attacks on the temple of democracy. To mark the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Kovind, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others paid tributes to the fallen soldiers, who laid their lives to protect democracy.
Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi, “I salute the courage and valour of all the brave security forces who made their supreme sacrifice to protect the pride of the nation in the cowardly terrorist attack on the Parliament House, the temple of Indian democracy. Your unparalleled valour and immortal sacrifice will always inspire us to serve the nation.”
2001 Parliament Attack
On December 13, 2001, 5 terrorists carrying AK47 rifles, grenade launchers, pistols and grenades entered the Parliament in White Ambassador cars with fake Parliament and Home Ministry labels on their cars and just after 40 minutes after the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha were adjourned.
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Many members of parliament (MPs) and government officials such as Home Minister LK Advani and Minister of State for Defence Harin Pathak were likely to have been in the building at the time of the attack.
Terrorists armed with AK47 rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, and grenades broke through security cordons set up around the Parliament complex. Constable Kamlesh Kumari Yadav who was a staff member became suspicious of their movement as they drove the car further inside the Parliament.
Constable Yadav sacrificed her life to stop a suicide bomber but was struck 11 times killing her on the spot. Kamlesh Kumari Yadav served with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) received the Ashoka Chakra.
The attack lasted for approximately 30 minutes, and all five terrorists were gunned down outside the building by security forces. Five Delhi Police officers, two security assistants from the Parliament Watch and Ward section, and one CRPF constable laid their lives for the country while preventing terrorists from attempting to enter Parliament House.
Along with the security forces, a photojournalist and a gardener were also killed by the terrorists. Within days, four people were arrested and charged as masterminds of the attack.
The case against the four - Mohammed Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain, Afsan Guru and SAR Geelani - went on for about a decade, with the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court eventually acquitting two, and upholding the death sentence of one.
Geelani, a professor at Delhi University, was acquitted for “need of evidence” by the Delhi high court in 2003, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005. Afsan Guru, too, was cleared of charges and Hussain served jail time. Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013.