Delhi HC rejects plea to remove Afzal Guru, Maqbool Bhat graves from Tihar

September 24, 2025 by News Desk

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the removal of the graves of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat from Tihar Jail.

The bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said the plea lacked evidence and could not rely on newspaper reports or social media posts.

The petition, filed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, claimed the graves had become pilgrimage sites and threatened public order. The judges, however, noted no material was placed on record to support this claim.

“Where is the empirical data? We cannot act on news clippings,” the bench observed, while granting the petitioner liberty to file a fresh plea with concrete proof.

The court also questioned the timing, pointing out that Bhat was buried in 1984 and Guru in 2013. “It has been 12 years since Afzal Guru was buried. Why are you raising this now?” the bench asked.

While stressing that there should be no glorification of the executed men, the judges said the decision to bury them inside jail premises was taken by the government to avoid law-and-order issues and could not be challenged after so many years.

Afzal Guru was executed in 2013 for his role in the Parliament attack, while JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat was hanged in 1984. Both were buried inside Tihar Jail.

The petitioner had also referred to the burials of Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon as precedents, but the court maintained that such matters are policy decisions for the government, not for judicial intervention.