In a stern reminder to the Executive of its constitutional responsibility in exercising the power of pardon to convicted persons, Supreme Court today warned the Central and state governments against recommending clemency petitions on political, religious and caste considerations and said such trend was fraught with dangerous consequences.
The strongly worded judgement came at a time when President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is in receipt of a clemency petition on behalf of Parliament attack case convict Mohd Afzal Guru from his wife against the capital punishment awarded to him and a Delhi trial court has fixed October 20 for his execution.
“Considerations of religion, caste or political loyalty are irrelevant and fraught with discriminations. These are prohibited grounds. The rule of law is the basis for evaluation of all decisions… the rule of law is fairness and legal certainty,†a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia held, while dealing with a case pertaining to grant of pardon by the Andhra Pradesh Governor to a Congress leader convicted of the murder of a Telugu Desam Party leader.
The Congress leader, Gowru Venketa Reddy, who was sentenced to life by trial court and AP High Court was awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court. Reddy’s wife is presently a Congress MLA in the state.
The Congress Government headed by Rajshekher Reddy after coming to power in 2004 recommended to the then Governor, Sushil Kumar Shinde, now a Union Minister, to grant pardon to the convicted leader after he had completed five years of his term and was consequently set free.
Source: The Tribune
It is stuff like this which makes me sick to the core, a person pardoned for murdering another human being and chaos to free another person who is guilty of treason!
It makes me wonder how soft a state India has become, people are crying for a person who has helped terrorists carry out attack on the Indian parliament, the symbol of the democratic setup of the largest democracy in the world. And yet not only the Kashmir groups but also some human right groups and some women groups are crying foul asking him to be pardoned! A person who has no remorse whatsoever and who isn’t even asking any one to pardon him!
If the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam pardons Afzal Guru or reduces his sentence to life imprisonment then I will feel ashamed to be called an Indian citizen. I wouldn’t want to be part of a country which rewards terrorists and forgets about those who lay down their lives to protect this country. Yes I am talking about the security personals that died in that attack, didn’t they have families? Don’t their families deserve justice?  If Indian politicians today forget their sacrifices then I am afraid it will not only bolster the reputation of India as a soft state, it will also effect the moral of the security personal who respect and love this country so much that they are willing to lay down their lives to protect her. For the sake of this country’s future I request President Kalam to let the law of the land prevail and let it be an example to all those who hate India…
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