Kept hanging: Govt says no deadline on Afzal plea

Government today said mercy petitions of 20 death row convicts, including Afzal Guru, are under various stages of consideration and that the Constitution does not specify any time limit within which a decision should be taken.

Government on Wednesday said mercy petitions of 20 death row convicts, including Afzal Guru, are under various stages of consideration and that the Constitution does not specify any time limit within which a decision should be taken.

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"The cases of the mercy petitions were examined and submitted/resubmitted to the President's Secretariat expeditiously. 13 mercy petition cases have been decided by the President since November 2009," Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran informed Rajya Sabha.

"The power under Article 72 of the Constitution does not contain any limitation of time in which power shall be exercised," he said in a written reply.

The 20 cases include that of Afzal Guru, who was given death sentence for the 2001 Parliament attack case. Two cases were under examination of the Home Ministry. While in one case some additional information has been sought from Bihar government, in another case, comments from Delhi government have been sought.