NEW DELHI: The long pendency of mercy pleas of condemned prisoners, some for over a decade, was no ground for altering the decision taken on it by the President in exercise of her constitutional powers, the Union government has told the Supreme Court.
The Centre’s stand came in response to a petition filed by Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, whose mercy plea has been rejected by the President after it remained pending for eight years. He had moved the SC saying the eight-year wait was sufficient ground for commutation of the death penalty.
The government said the Constitution prescribed no time frame for the President to decide mercy pleas of condemned prisoners and the constitutional courts have no power to prescribe a deadline on this issue.
“Pendency of the mercy petition cannot be said to be an act of cruelty or an act which adds to the suffering of the prisoner. In fact, it is the pendency of the mercy petition which has given a lease of life to the prisoner,” the Centre said.
It said: “The powers under Article 72 of the Constitution are special powers overriding all other laws, rules and regulation in force. No time frame can be set for the President in this regard.”
In a broadside at the NDA government which has been accusing the UPA government of playing communal politics over the pendency of the mercy plea of Parliament attack case condemned prisoner Afzal Guru, the UPA government said it has decided 15 mercy pleas since it came to power and in comparison the BJP-led government had not decided even a single such plea. It said that decision was being expedited on other such pending pleas.
It said processing a mercy petition was a constitutional and time consuming exercise and inherent delay was no mitigating circumstance conferring any legal rights on a convict to seek commutation of death penalty.
Bhullar was sentenced to death by a TADA court on August 25, 2001, for his role in the September 10, 1993, bomb blast in Delhi. Though then Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta escaped death with serious injuries, nine security personnel were killed.
In 2002, the SC had upheld the death penalty for Bhullar. It dismissed his curative petition in March 2003. He then filed a mercy petition, which was dismissed by the President on May 25 this year. Bhullar is at present undergoing treatment for a mental ailment.
News Source: Times of India
