M A I N   N E W S

Reject Afzal's mercy plea, govt advises Prez

New Delhi, August 10
In a significant decision, the government is understood to have recommended to the President rejection of the clemency petition of Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal Guru, condemned to death.

The Home Ministry is believed to have sent the file rejecting the mercy petition of Guru, convicted in the 2001 terror attack and given death sentence which was confirmed by the Delhi High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court. The Home Ministry is believed to have cited the Delhi government's recommendation which also favoured execution of Guru, an issue which has been hanging fire for seven years and has been a subject matter of intense political controversy.

Indications of the government's thinking on the matter came earlier in the day when Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran informed the Rajya Sabha that the Home Ministry has submitted Guru's case to the President’s Secretariat for a decision. Guru was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004. — TNS