President Pranab Mukherjee rejects five mercy petitions, commutes death sentence of two

The mercy petitions of the convicts in the seven cases were earlier sent to the President, with recommendations from the Home Ministry, in February.

 

NEW DELHI: Out of the seven people convicted for murder, President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected mercy petitions in five cases while commuted death sentence in two other cases, according to media reports.

The details of the President's decision were not available.

Following were the mercy petitions earlier sent to the President, with recommendations from the Home Ministry, in February:

1. Dharampal, convicted for killing five members of a family in Haryana in 1993. He was also convicted for raping a girl of the family.

2.  Gurmeet Singh convicted for murdering 13 members of a family in Uttar Pradesh on August 17, 1986.

3. Sonia, a former Haryana MLA's daughter along with her husband Sanjeev, both convicted of killing eight of her family members in Hisar in 2001.

4. Sunder Singh of Uttarakhand, convicted for rape and murder on June 30, 1989.

5. Jafar Ali, who killed wife and five daughters in Uttar Pradesh in 2002.

6. Praveen Kumar convicted for murdering four members of a family, on February 23, 1994.

7. Suresh and Ramji, from Uttar Pradesh, convicted of murdering five members of their younger brother's family.

Article 72 of the Constitution grants President the power to 'grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases'.

Mukherjee had earlier rejected mercy petitions in a few high profile cases, the first one of  2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in February in top secrecy.

The mercy plea of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the militant squad responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was the first Mukherjee had rejected on November 5. The Pakistani gunman was hanged on November 21.

Mukherjee has also rejected the mercy petitions of Veerappan's associates, earlier sentenced to death for killing 21 policemen in a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka in 1993, and mercy petitions of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar, convicted for the murder of his first wife and also his daughter.(With inputs from the Agencies)