Mercy petitions of 11 convicts pending

Mercy petitions of 11 death row convicts, including four from Karnataka, are pending with the Home Ministry.

“Presently, nine mercy petition cases of prisoners on death row are pending under Article 72 of the Constitution of India,” Minister of State for Home, Mullappally Ramachandran, said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. 

As many as 11 convicts are languishing in prisons in nine cases since 1999. Balwant Singh Rajoana is the only convict in a terror case. He was convicted of assassinating former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

The death row convicts from Karnataka are Praveen Kumar (2004), Shivu and Jadeswamy (2013) and B A Umesh (2012), who was charged with rape and murder of several women. They are lodged in Belgaum’s Hindalga Central Jail.

Dharam Pal (Haryana, since 1999), Praveen Kumar (Karnataka, 2004), Jafar Ali (Uttar Pradesh, 2006), Sonia and Sanjeev (Haryana, 2007), Sunder Singh (Uttarakhand, 2011), Shivu and Jadeswamy (Karnataka, 2013), B A Umesh (Karnataka, 2012), Balwant Singh Rajoana (Chandigarh, 2012) and Maganlal (Madhya Pradesh, 2012), are the death row convicts whose mercy petitions are pending. 

 The list does not feature Saibanna Nigappa Natekar, whose mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee recently, since he approached the court against the decision. The Karnataka High Court has stayed the hanging till April 6.
Last month, Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged after his mercy plea rejected by the President.