Reject Afzal Guru’s mercy petition: Home Ministry’s advice to President

The decision comes over a year after the Delhi Government favoured rejection of the mercy petition. In its recommendation to the President, the MHA has also referred to the comments of the Delhi Government.

"The mercy petition case of death convict Mohd Afzal Guru has since been submitted to the President's Secretariat on July 27, 2011 for a decision," Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran informed the Rajya Sabha today. He was responding to a question on why the government was not taking steps to expedite Guru's pending mercy petition.

Sources said along with Guru's plea, the ministry has also sent the cases of some other death row convicts to the President.

However, there is no deadline within which the President has to clear the case. She can also send the file back to the MHA for a review, as she has done in a few cases earlier.

Guru was convicted of conspiracy in the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament in which nine people were killed. In December 2002, he was sentenced to death by a Delhi court, and the Delhi High Court confirmed the sentence in October 2003.

The death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005. While the sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006, it was put off as his wife filed a mercy petition.

The President then sought the MHA's views on the mercy petition. The MHA sought the opinion of the Delhi Government as the comments of the government of the state where the crime has been committed are sought before deciding a mercy petition. After 16 reminders, the Delhi Government, on May 18 last year, finally, sent its comments to the MHA.

In May this year, the President had rejected the mercy petitions of terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar and one Mahendra Nath Dass of Assam.

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