MHA to take time to send Afzal Guru's file to President

Government may take some more time to send the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to President Pratibha Patil as she is yet to clear 15 mercy pleas.

Government may take some more time to send the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to President Pratibha Patil as she is yet to clear 15 mercy pleas.

HT Image

"As the previous files of mercy petitions have not been cleared, we are holding back the remaining files. Whenever she clears the old files, we will send the equal number of cases to her for her consideration," a source in the home ministry said.

When contacted, Rashtrapathi Bhavan spokesperson said that all the cases sent by the Government were under "active consideration" of the President.

Asked when the pending petitions would be cleared, the spokesperson said there was no time limit for it.

Sources said that mercy petitions of about 15 death convicts are with the President for her decision and five reminders have been sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

As the home ministry is working on the mercy petitions serial-wise, five other mercy petitions have to be sent to the President before sending Afzal Guru's case.

Source said that death convicts in 14 cases were sent to the President during NDA government and when Shivraj Patil was the Home Minister, he had sent 14 more cases to Rashtrapati Bhavan of which two cases were decided.

Since P Chidambaram took charge as home minister, at the request of the President, all the cases have been reviewed and were being resubmitted one by one.

Sources said that in all the pending 15 cases, the home ministry advised the President to reject the mercy pleas as all of them fall in the rarest of rarest category.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna has suggested to the home ministry to reject Guru's plea.