29 mercy petitions pending with the President

The president’s secretariat has disposed off 77 mercy petitions since 1981. Nine were commuted to life imprisonment.

danish

Danish Raza | June 4, 2010



Going by the history of mercy petitions in the country, there are 12 percent chances of the president converting Afzal Guru’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

The president’s secretariat has disposed off 77 mercy petitions since 1981.

In nine of these cases, death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment.

At present, 28 mercy petitions are pending with the president’s secretariat. Out of these, 20 were filed before 2006- the year Afzal’s petition reached president office.

In 15 of these cases, the petition was resubmitted in the president’s secretariat.

The MHA gave this information as a reply to the RTI application filed by Delhi based activist Subhash Chandra Aggarwal. As per the law, all mercy petitions are submitted in the president’s secretariat. Then they are examined in the MHA in consultation with the concerned state government.

After examination, it is submitted to the president’s secretariat for a final decision with the due recommendation of the union home minister.

On May 19, Delhi government had forwarded Afzal Guru’s file to lieutenant governor Tajendra Khanna. According to reports, the file is now with the MHA.

The RTI response also said that currently, the MHA is considering only two more petitions apart from Afzal Guru’s file. One relates to the death penalty awarded to four persons in Punjab who were convicted for 17 murders during a marriage function. Second case refers to Om Prakash of Uttaranchal who was awarded capital punishment for killing three members of a family.

The comments of Uttaranchal government are awaited in this case.

Comments

 

Other News

When religion, politics and Bollywood come together

Tavleen Singh, noted journalist and political commentator, has turned to fiction, with her debut novel ‘The Actor’ (HaperCollins India). Set in the near future, it has a superstar, Amit Singh, turning to politics, when the political landscape is dominated by prime minister Guru Gaynendraj

Cabinet approves setting up of Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority

The union cabinet, chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), called Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority (ITLA), to strengthen research, planning, appraisal, monitoring and impact assessment within the broad domains of Transp

Why foundational literacy and numeracy is key to school education

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) are often described as the building blocks of education. Yet, their significance goes well beyond a child’s ability to read a sentence, write a response or solve a basic mathematical problem. These foundational skills shape how children understand the world,

When police data becomes the algorithm

For decades, policing has followed a familiar sequence: a crime occurs, the police respond, an investigation produces records and those records become part of the institutional memory of the criminal justice system. Artificial intelligence is beginning to alter that sequence. Instead of merely recording

Before India voted, the framers worried about the referee

“We are making a Constitution forever and not only for today.” Shibban Lal Saksena said this in the Constituent Assembly on June 15, 1949. He was warning that a ruling party might one day choose a loyalist to run India’s elections. Seventy-seven years later, the Supreme Court is wrestli

Delhi moves to real-time traffic management

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, has approved implementation of the ITMS Project by Delhi Police at an estimated cost of Rs.1,789.52 crore, inclusive of taxes. The project will cover 42 identified traffic corridors and will be implemented in three

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter