‘Mercy plea to be processed fast’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: With a presidential pardon the only option before Ajmal Kasab after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday said the government would ensure that the Pakistani’s mercy plea, if it came, was processed in the minimum possible time.
 

    “If Ajmal Kasab files a mercy plea, we will ensure it is disposed of in minimum time,” Shinde said when asked if Kasab’s execution would take time since he has the option of moving a mercy petition.
 

    The delay in disposing of mercy petitions of death row convicts has created unease within and outside the government. At present, 11 mercy petitions, including that of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, are pending with the President. Guru filed his mercy plea in 2006 but it took the government over five years to process his file before sending it to the President.
 

    Though the government gave its opinion rejecting Guru’s mercy plea to the President over a year ago, it is still pending with the President’s secretariat. The President can exercise his discretion on when to take a final call on the matter, as the Constitution does not provide any time limit on the issue.
 

    Home secretary R K Singh said Kasab has not yet filed any mercy petition. “We will see once he does,” he said.
 

    Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni was more straightforward on the issue. She said while it was Kasab’s constitutional right to seek a presidential review, such clemency should not be shown. “This judgment was awaited from the Supreme Court. I think the judgment should be abided by. Personally, I think there should be no clemency for such cases,” she said. 

 
Terrorist not told of verdict Mumbai: The country’s most high-profile prisoner spent the day in Arthur Road jail oblivious of the death sentence meted out to him by the Supreme Court. Ajmal Kasab woke up in his cell at his normal time, ate almost everything served to him through Wednesday and, again at his normal time, went off to sleep. Policemen were forbidden from informing Kasab of the apex court verdict since the jail superintendent A C Rane had “not received an order copy of the judgment”. “How can I tell him about the judgment without having the document in my hand?” said Rane. —Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Ajmal Kasab


The Times of India, August 30, 2012