NEWS: The Union Government opposed Balwant Singh Rajoana’s plea to commute his death sentence, despite the mercy petition pending since 2012.
ABOUT MERCY PETITION
- Formal plea to the President or Governor seeking executive clemency after judicial remedies.
- Aim → reduce or remove punishment through constitutional powers.
FORMS OF CLEMENCY
- Pardon → removes punishment and its legal consequences.
- Commutation → substitutes a lighter form of punishment.
- Remission → reduces the period of sentence without changing its character.
- Respite → lesser sentence due to special circumstances.
- Reprieve → temporary stay of execution.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
- Article 72 → President can grant clemency for Union-law offences, court-martial cases + all death sentences.
- Article 161 → Governor can grant clemency for offences within State executive power; can suspend, remit or commute death sentences, but cannot pardon them.
- President exercises clemency on the aid and advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
LEGAL PRINCIPLES
- Maru Ram v. Union of India (1980) → President’s clemency power exercised on ministerial advice.
- Shatrughan Chauhan v. Union of India (2014) → undue delay in deciding mercy petitions may violate Article 21 and justify commutation of a death sentence.
- Epuru Sudhakar v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2006) → clemency orders are subject to limited judicial review for arbitrariness, mala fides + non-application of mind.
- No fundamental right to an oral hearing before the President.
KEY ISSUES
- Prolonged delay → mental suffering + death-row uncertainty.
- No fixed constitutional deadline for the President’s decision.
- Need for timely decisions + transparent procedures, consistent with constitutional safeguards