The petitioner Pinki Virani, a journalist, contended that out of 35 cases in which death sentence was commuted by Patil, five cases are pertaining to brutal child rape and submitted that the relief should not have been granted by the President in those cases. Questioning the decision taken by the President, the petitioner submitted that these are shocking cases and death sentence should not have been revoked. We need to tell the government that this is not the way to exercise the power, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the petitioner, submitted before the bench also comprising justices Ranjana P Desai and Ranjan Gogoi. We are not happy with the present state of affairs, he submitted. The bench after brief hearing agreed to adjudicate the matter and issued notices to the Centre and ministry of home affairs. Challenging the commutation, the petitioner said that definite parameters are required to be laid down which can be applied as objective assessment of each case by both, the ministry of home affairs and the President. The grant of pardon on ad hoc basis and without any objectively verifiable parameters constitutes abuse of power and violation of the fundamental rights of the victims and their near and dear ones. Grant of clemency to the death-convict breeds serious discontent in the society in general and more particularly amongst the close relatives and friends of the victims. It conveys wrong message to the society that a person can commit heinous offence with impunity, especially against children, the petition said.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 20:42:34 +0000
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