-The Times of India President Pranab Mukherjee, having rejected the mercy petitions of seven death row convicts in less than seven months of assuming office, may appear to have a hard line on capital punishment but experts say he does not have much discretion in the matter. While the statute grants clemency powers to the President through Article 72, constitutional experts say the power to grant pardon is not personal but...
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PM Manmohan Singh 'upset' that Afzal Guru's family was not informed well in time- Masood Hussain & Soma Banerjee
-The Economic Times Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unhappy with the home ministry for not following routine procedures such as informing the family of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru before his hanging last Saturday, two people familiar with the matter have told ET. The prime minister felt the matter could have been handled better, one of the persons said, adding that he had told the same to Home Minister Sushil Kumar...
More »PIL in HC seeks to restrain Centre from ‘secret executions’-Gopu Mohan
-The Indian Express Chennai: Concerned over the "secret execution" of Afzal Guru, a fate that could befall the three persons awarded capital punishment for their involvement in Rajiv Gandhi assassination, a petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the Centre from carrying out any more executions without first publicly disclosing the rejection of mercy petition. The petitioner, advocate P Pugalenthi, director of Prisoners' Rights Forum and an...
More »Undertrials in jail for long may be freed -Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Times of India Undertrials languishing in jails for long years because of their inability to secure bail may soon be released following the Centre directive to all states and Union Territories to review such cases. Saying only the poor and indigent continued to be in jails for long periods and that too for minor offences, the Centre has asked states to release all such undertrials who have completed half the maximum...
More »Vengeance isn’t justice
-The Hindu Eight years ago, the Supreme Court condemned Muhammad Afzal Guru to be hanged for his role in the 2001 attack on Parliament House, saying, astonishingly, that “the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender.” Guru was walked to the gallows Saturday morning at the end of the macabre rite governments enact from time to time to propitiate that...
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