Clemency – Disposition to be Merciful and especially to moderate the severity of Punishment Due.
In India, there is a provision for the convicts sentenced to Capital Punishment to file a Clemency Petition. But do they do any good to the cases? Let’s have a look at the typical case that got highlighted just a couple of weeks earlier –
A Convict sentenced Capital Punishment for Raping a Minor and then killing her had filed a Clemency Petition in the office of President of India. Interesting twist to the case was that the Culprit was diagnosed with AIDS and he died 9 years back. And the embarrassing situation – “President of India grants Clemency” to the dead.
Another case, a terrorist who was charged for Waging War against the Nation and is sentenced for Capital Punishment. There is a lot of debate between NGOs and in the Political cordons that the identified terrorist should be granted Clemency. Why? because they think in the civilized world, there is no scope for Clemency. Pretty Interesting….Civilized, do these terrorists belong to civilized world?
The question for the readers and the citizens of the country to answer is –
- What should be the qualification criteria for the Clemency Petitions?
- What should be the process of accepting the Clemency Petitions?
- What should be the time period to notify the acceptance / rejection of Clemency Petition?
- What should be the period to Honor Clemency Petitions?
My Take for the first question is – “Any proven Terrorist’s Clemency Petition should be Rejected by Default” The act of War against Nation MUST result in Capital Punishment and there Should NOT be any scope of leniency with the Enemy of the Nation!!
For the question 2 to 4, my take would be to ensure that the Clemency Petitions are thoroughly investigated and evaluated within a defined time-frame say of 4 to 6 months. It certainly should not take years and cause embarrassment to the highest office, the office of President. There we need to come out of Bureaucratic Red Tapism and delays!!!
Rightly said about questions 1-4 but what about the careless attitude of the President to grant bulk clemency that too to people who r either dead or those who are enemies to the nation?? Forget about the timings which is way too out of limits but who decides the privileged recipient's name?? The President?? And if this is how the President of the Nation takes decisions then I think disaster management needs to be in place first… Clearing up the unthinking politicians and government is more essential than clearing up the mess inside the jails…