-The Telegraph Srinagar: If appetite for capital punishment has been whetted in the country, Padshah Begum’s experience today should serve as a timely note of caution. The 60-year-old lady in Srinagar received word this afternoon that Delhi High Court has taken her son off death row because “serious lapses” marked the police investigation into a blast in the capital in 1996. She is no stranger to such news: two years ago, her eldest...
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CIC directs govt to disclose information on Afzal Guru mercy petition-Himanshi Dhawan
The Central Information Commission ( CIC) has directed the home ministry to disclose file notings and correspondence related to the mercy petitions of all death row convicts including Afzal Guru. Giving the order information commissioner Sushma Singh asked the home ministry to provide information of mercy petitions related to all convicts (pending and disposed) after Devindersingh Khullar and Mahendernath Dass. The order was based on a RTI application filed by activists S...
More »Court to go into delay on 18 mercy pleas, including Afzal's by J Venkatesan
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought from the Centre the files on 18 mercy petitions, including that of the Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru who is on death row, pending consideration before the President for periods ranging from one to seven years. A Bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and S. J. Mukhopadhaya called for the records from Additional Solicitor-General Harin Raval after amicus curiae Ram Jethmalani and senior counsel...
More »SC questions bias in treating mercy petitions
-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Tuesday was at a loss to understand why convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee's execution was swift, but a lot of political muscle flexing was on show when it came to Beant Singh's killer Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is slated to be hanged on March 31. The controversy over Rajoana's death sentence reached the apex court on Tuesday with a NGO Lawyers for Human Rights International seeking...
More »Death penalty is barbaric, says judge by J Venkatesan
The ‘rarest of rare' doctrine is a grey area: Justice Ganguly Supreme Court Judge A.K. Ganguly on Tuesday termed death penalty “barbaric,” “anti-life,” “undemocratic” and “irresponsible,” but “legal.” Expressing his “personal views” on the subject, Justice Ganguly said the constitutional guarantee of ‘right to life' could not be subjected to vague premises. The ‘rarest of rare' doctrine in death penalty cases “is a grey area as it depended on the interpretation of...
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