SC dismisses disclosure of mercy petitions in definite time frame

New Delhi, July 13(UNI) The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seekimg direction to the President of India to dispose the mercy petitions within a definite time frame.

According to the petitioner C P Bhartiya, there are about 22 mercy petitions pending before the President of India.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran questioned the locus standi of the petitioner and wanted to know if he has taken prior consent of the 22 convicts whose mercy petitions are pending before the President.

Counsel for the petitioner, however, contended that since it was a PIL, no consent was required. In all about 50 mercy petitions are pending either with the Government or with the President which includes the main convict in the parliament attack Md Afzal who has been awarded death sentence by the court.

The government had already made a statement in Parliament that it will take about seven years to decide on the mercy petition of Md Afzal, which has led to a huge public outcry as the family members of those policemen who were killed on December 13, 2001, when the Indian parliament was attacked by the terrorists, want quick decision on the mercy petition of convicts like Md Afzal.

The government is yet to refer the mercy petition of Afzal to the President.

According to the petitioner, mercy petitions are kept pending for years together for reasons other than legal, virtually denying justice to the families of the victims. The court, however, did not agree with the contentions of the petititoner and dismissed the same.

UNI