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| Court lays out clemency guidelines for president, governor | | |
New Delhi, October 11,
The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that powers of clemency by the president or the governor of a state cannot be exercised for political considerations or on the basis of religion, caste or other extraneous factors.
A bench consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and SH Kapadia made it clear that the powers of reprieve, pardon or remission of sentence cannot be done on irrelevant materials. The exercise of the powers must be for bona fide and valid reasons.
The ruling assumes significance in the context of petitions presented to President APJ Abdul Kalam for clemency to Mohammad Afzal Guru, sentenced to death in the parliament attack case.
According to the court, while exercising the power, the president or the governor should keep in mind not only the welfare of the convict but the welfare of the public at large and the impact of release of the convict on society.
The bench gave the ruling while setting aside an order passed by former governor of Andhra Pradesh Sushil Kumar Shinde, at present the union power minister, remitting the sentence of 10 years' imprisonment awarded to a Congress leader Gowra Venkata Reddy in a murder case.
The governor by his order said the period of sentence of five years and two months already undergone by Reddy would be sufficient and directed his release.
However, on a petition from the sons of the deceased Telugu Desam Party leader, the Supreme Court in November 2005 admitted a petition challenging the governor's order and stayed Reddy's release.
The court held that the exercise of the power of clemency by the president or the governor would be subject to judicial review since such a power cannot be exercised for extraneous, political or for mala fide reasons.
The court said that it would be open to the present Andhra Pradesh governor to decide the issue of pardon to Reddy on the basis of materials supplied by the government, after making proper inquiry
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