New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam has set off a debate on the issue of the death penalty and advised the government to consider pardoning 50 inmates sentenced to death.
Lawyer-activists who oppose the death penalty feel that they have a new friend in the first citizen of the country.
The law on pardons is itself unclear, as to whether it's the cabinet or the President that has the final say.
Political parties are divided on the issue. In the BJP, which lobbied for capital punishment for rapists, the President's suggestion had no takers.
Speaking to the media, BJP?s spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said that Capital punishment is a deterrent and that it cannot be done away with.
With the three conspirators of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case among the mercy petitioners, the issue of Capital punishment is a sore point for the Congress.
The party insists on a debate on the issue but maintains that the President is within his rights to grant clemency on a case-by-case basis.
"Political parties do not have a view on the matter. The Congress has not formulated a view, the law of the land, the CRPC will apply to all citizens irrespective of status", said Ambika Soni of the Congress.
The President's suggestion has been seconded by the Left, which is opposed to Capital punishment.
D. Raja of the CPI (what? party?) said," The President has a point. We have always been of the view that there should not be capital punishment. Some other form of punishment should be formulated for the rest of crimes."
At stake is the future of many mercy petitioners convicted in several high profile cases.
Three conspirators convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi have been waiting for the noose. The case is more than 14 year old.
Similarly Davindar Singh Bhullar of Khalistan Liberation Force is on the death row for killing nine people and injuring 31 including former youth Congress leader MS Bitta in a bomb blast in 1993.
Comments
0 comment