Afzals mercy petition being processed for submission to President

The mercy petition filed before the President by Mohammad Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for his involvement in the 2001 Parliament attack case, is being processed in accordance with the prescribed procedure for submission to President Pratibha Patil.

New Delhi, Aug 29 : The mercy petition filed before the President by Mohammad Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for his involvement in the 2001 Parliament attack case, is being processed in accordance with the prescribed procedure for submission to President Pratibha Patil.

This information was given by Minister of State for Home V. Radhika Selvi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. Selvi said that the power under Article 72 of the Constitution does not contain any limitation as to the time, in which the power conferred might be exercised.

Afzal was sentenced to death on December 18, 2002 by a trial court. This was confirmed by the Delhi High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004. The sentence was to be carried out on October 20, 2006 in the Tihar Jail here, but it was stayed after his family filed a mercy petition to the then President, APJ Abdul Kalam.

Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding clemency for Afzal, as according to them, the hanging of Afzal would have negative effects on peace process in the Valley. Many claim that Afzal has been denied natural justice.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly opposed clemency. Senior party leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani, last year criticised the delay in carrying out the death sentence on Afzal.

"I think a person who had conspired to attack on Parliament and attacked on Parliament is one of the rarest cases. So, I don't understand why protests are on to quash his death sentence," Advani had said.

ANI