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| It is 'difficult' to lay down time-frame: Patil | | Afzal Guru' s hanging is delayed | | NEW DELHI, MAR 14:
Good news for the detained Kashmiri militant, Afzal Guru: The death sentence awarded to him is quite unlikely to be executed in the near future. And bad news for Guru's foes, particularly the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP): The government of India continues to be unable to lay down a time-frame vis-a-vis hanging of Afzal Guru.
Afzal Guru's alleged role in the 2001 terror attack on Parliament echoed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday during Question Hour. The govgernment stated that no time-frame could be laid down for executing the death sentence awarded to Afzal Guru.
Shivraj Patil, Minister for Home Affairs said in reply to a question: "Time is of consequence and is important. However, the process (of confirming the death sentence) moves through different levels and so it is difficult to lay down a time frame". Patil added that the file relating to the death penalty awarded to Afzal Guru, accused of planning the Dec 13, 2001 attack in which nine people besides all five attackers were killed, was currently with the Delhi government, from where it could travel to the Central government and then to President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Patil's statement came in response to a question from Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi whether the government was considering a constitutional amendment to abolish the power to pardon death sentences handed down for terrorist attacks. The Home Minister flatly denied that there was any move to do so.
Patil made it clear: "It is not for the executive to decide whether this authority should remain with the President or not. If the provision has to be removed, there have to be solid and cogent reasons for doing so". Patil contended that the framers of the Constitution had applied their minds and made the provisions. "Worldwide trends are that the death penalty should be abolished. We are saying the death penalty should be there but the power to pardon should also be there", he said.
Raising a supplementary, Sushma Swaraj (BJP) wanted to know whether the President acts on his own in confirming or overturning a death sentence or does so in consultation with the government. Patil's reply: "The President acts on the advice of the Cabinet". Patil added that he decision could be returned for reconsideration just once. Sushma Swaraj's pointed question: Has the Cabinet decided on Afzal Guru's death sentence?
No sooer did Sushma Swaraj shoot the question than the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, intervened and remarked: "That is another matter". It was at this stage that Shivraj Patil replied that the concerned file was with the Delhi government.
In his supplementary, Shahid Siddiqui of the Samajwadi Party said that there could be no two opinions on punishing those held guilty of terrorist attacks but pointed to the practice of the police often picking up innocent people in the name of controlling the scourge. His question: "How do we stop this and ensure that such people get a proper defence when lawyers sometimes refuse to come forward?". Pat came Patil's reply: "We cannot order lawyers to take up a case but we do have a system of appointing an amicus curie to assist the court in such matters".
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