On September 30, 2005, the then President A P J Abdul Kalam had accepted the mercy petition of R Govindasamy, who the Centre has now decided to pardon. But the then home minister Shivraj Patil chose to ignore the President’s decision, which resulted in a delay of over four years in commuting Govindasamy’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

In his decision, conveyed to Patil in writing, Kalam said, “I find that the accused was acquitted by the court of first trial on a rather compelling ground of there being no eyewitness to the murder and that one of the former Attorney Generals had opined that since the entire case of the prosecution rested on circumstantial evidence, the benefit of clemency could be extended to the accused.”

Kalam further wrote, “The function of law as a medium of reform and not just that of punishment is well recognised. I feel the accused can be allowed the opportunity of undergoing a self-reformatory exercise. I am therefore inclined to accept his mercy petition and commute his death sentence to life-long imprisonment.”

On May 21, 2005, Patil had written to Kalam saying: “The present appeals received on behalf of R Govindasamy for mercy of the President are devoid of any valid or new grounds and that there has been no arbitrariness in disposal of mercy petitions.”

Sources in the Union Home Ministry told The Indian Express that Patil decided against communicating Kalam’s decision to accept the mercy petition of Govindasamy to the Tamil Nadu government on the ground that his decision was not based on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

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