President Patil discards mercy petition of two death row convicts

27 May 2011 Evaluate

President Pratibha Patil has given go-ahead for execution of two murder convicts which could speed up the process of clearing the long list of death row convicts. The President rejected the mercy petitions of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar of Punjab and Mahendra Nath Das of Assam following the recommendations from the Union Home Ministry. The consent has been given for the first time since the year 2004 and will clear the list of death row convicts including Afzal Guru and Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts, awaiting punishment.

While Khalistan Liberation Force operative Bhullar was convicted for a bombing outside the Indian Youth Congress office in Delhi that killed nine persons in 1993. He was sentenced to death by a trial court in August 2001 and appealed for mercy the next year; another convict Mahendra Nath Das of Assam was sentenced to death for murdering a person while out on bail in another murder case. Das’ mercy petition was rejected two months back. A date for hanging will now be set by the execution court.

Meanwhile, everybody has set their eyes on other petitions pending with the President, including that of Afzal Guru. He was sentenced to death for plotting the 2001 attack on Parliament and is now on death row.

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