- President Draupadi Murmu has rejected a mercy petition filed by Pakistani national Mohammed Arif who was sentenced to death for the 2000 terrorist attack at the Red Fort.
- He can challenge the President’s decision and prolong the proceedings further.
- The president’s power to grant pardons provided additional protection against possible miscarriage of justice and, therefore, cases found unfit for mercy merit capital punishment as per the Law Commission Report.
- Under Article 72 of the Constitution, “the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence where the sentence is a sentence of death”.
- Under Article 161, the Governor too has pardoning powers, but these do not extend to death sentences.
Rarest of Rare doctrine
- In 1980, the Supreme Court (Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab) upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty but established important guardrails.
- The death penalty should be in the rarest of rare cases when the alternative option is unquestionably foreclosed and all possible mitigating circumstances have been considered.
- The 262nd Law Commission report published in 2015 recommended the absolute abolition of the death penalty for all crimes other than terrorism-related offences and waging war.
- The President cannot exercise his power of pardon independent of the government.
- In several cases, the SC has ruled that the President has to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers while deciding mercy pleas. These include Maru Ram vs Union of India in 1980, and Dhananjoy Chatterjee vs State of West Bengal in 1994.
- Although the President is bound by the Cabinet’s advice, Article 74(1) empowers him to return it for reconsideration once. If the Council of Ministers decides against any change, the President has no option but to accept it.
- The president’s order can be challenged on multiple grounds — including that relevant material was not considered, the power was exercised based on political considerations, or that there was no application of mind.
Dig Deeper: Compare the Pardoning Power of the Indian President with the US President.
