Mohammad Afzal's mercy plea disposal to take time

NEW DELHI: Even though the MHA has decided to forward “as it is” the Delhi Lieutenant Governor’s recommendation for rejection of Parliament attack accused Mohammad Afzal’s mercy plea, there is little likelihood of its disposal in the near future given the 10-15 clemency petitions already lined up for the President’s decision.

The MHA has decided against forwarding Afzal’s petition and five other mercy pleas lined before it — in the order that they were originally submitted to Rashtrapati Bhavan — until all pending clemency requests are disposed of by President Pratibha Patil.
The 10-15 petitions resubmitted by UPA-II have been stuck in Rashtrapati Bhavan for over a year now, notwithstanding the five reminders sent by the MHA between February and now. The reminders were sent to Raisina Hill in February, May, August, November and a few days back.

It is hardly a coincidence that most of the mercy petitions pending with Pratibha Patil endorse death penalty. According to sources, Patil, owing to certain religious beliefs, is said to be averse to signing on mercy pleas carrying advice that upholds death penalty. In all of the five-six mercy pleas disposed of by her so far, she has commuted death sentences of the convicts to life imprisonment.

Agencies, however, quoted a Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesperson as saying that the said mercy petitions were “being considered.”

However, a senior government official pointed out that since there is no timeframe for the President to dispose of the mercy petitions, there is no certainty on when these pending 10-15 files will be cleared. “Unless that happens, the next set of files, including that of Afzal, will be lying with the MHA,” said the official.

Afzal’s death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2005, following which a mercy petition was filed on his behalf with the President. The President sent it to the MHA for its opinion, which in turn forwarded it to the Delhi government. The Shiela Dikshit government sat on it for years and it was only earlier this year that it forwarded the papers to the LG, endorsing death penalty for Afzal.

The delay in hanging of Afzal came up for debate on the ninth anniversary of Parliament attack on Monday. The government and the BJP sparred over the issue, with the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj asking the government to spell out why the government was silent on Afzal’s execution.

“The Supreme Court has pronounced punishment to those guilty of Parliament attack, and the second thing is that it has also confirmed their punishment, then why is the government silent on it?” she asked at a memorial service for the nine people killed in the 2001 terror attack.

Seeking implementation of punishment to the convicts, she said it would bring relief to family members of the attack victims and the entire country.

Retaliating against Swaraj’s remarks, home minister P Chidambaram said the BJP leaders “are either dense or pretend to be deaf”.