20 mercy petitions pending before President

NEW DELHI: A total of 20 mercy petitions, including that of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, were pending before the President, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"Presently, 20 mercy petition cases of 29 death convicts are pending under Article 72 of the Constitution," Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said.

Sources said the Home Ministry had submitted Afzal Guru's case to the President's Secretariat for a decision on July 27, 2011 with the recommendation that the clemency petition should be rejected.

Guru was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 Parliament attack and the order to sentence him to death was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006.

However, Guru's execution was stayed following a mercy petition filed by his wife. He remains on death row since then.