JOIN USIn a first after assuming office, President Pranab Mukherjee commuted the death sentence of a convict to life imprisonment.
Atbir was sentenced to death by a sessions court here in 2004 for the murder of his step mother, step sister and step brother over a property dispute in 1996.
The decision was upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court in August 2010.
Recommendation
In June, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recommended to the President commutation to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to Atbir.
The President disposed of the petition on November 15 by giving his assent to the recommendation, according to the details of mercy pleas given on the President’s official website.
On November 5, the President rejected the mercy plea of Ajmal Kasab who was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in August 2011, for waging war against the country and killing 166 people and injuring 238 in the terror attack on Mumbai in 2008.
According to the website, Mukherjee has sent nine mercy petitions to the MHA for further consideration. These include mercy pleas of Afzal Guru, convicted for attacking Parliament in which nine people were killed and 16 injured.
Petition
Meanwhile, only one mercy petition of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar, convicted for killing his wife and daughter, is pending before the President.
The Supreme Court had upheld Natikar’s death sentence in 2005. The MHA has sent its recommendation on November 5 to the President’s secretariat for a decision.