India: Patil decisions on death terms under scrutiny Former President Pratibha Patils decision to commute death sentence of 5 prisoners in child rape cases has come under judicial scrutiny with the Supreme Court on Monday issuing notice to the Centre on a plea seeking to set aside the commutation. A bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the then Presidents decision to commute death penalty in the cases of extreme brutality. The petitioner Pinki Virani, a journalist, had said that out of 35 cases in which death sentence was commuted by Ms Patil, 5 cases pertained to brutal child rape. It contended that the relief should not have been granted by the President in those cases. The petitioner submitted that these were shocking cases and death sentence should not have been revoked.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. We are not happy with the present state of affairs, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the petitioner, told a bench of justices Ranjana P. Desai and Ranjan Gogoi. After brief hearing, the bench agreed to adjudicate the matter and issued notices to the Centre and ministry of home affairs. (soruce: The Asian Age)
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 18:42:53 +0000
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