The UPA Government had suppressed the then President APJ Abdul Kalam’s note that recommended the commutation of the death penalty of double murder convict MN Das, which led to his successor Pratibha Patil rejecting Das’ mercy petition.
This shocking fact was spotted by the Supreme Court, which said in its judgment commuting Das’ death sentence to life that Patil was kept in the dark about the view expressed by her predecessor and thus deprived of an opportunity to objectively consider the entire matter.
Patil had rejected the mercy petition of Das on May 8, 2011 in line with the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) then headed by P Chidambaram. But Patil’s predecessor APJ Abdul Kalam on September 30, 2005 had already disposed of the mercy petition of Das in
his favour.
Kalam’s note said that “the conduct of the accused (Das) does not show trace of pre-meditated murder.” He asked the Centre to consider commuting the death sentence on the ground that “the crime can well be attributed to a gross lack of mental equanimity on his (Das) part.”
The Bench of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya, after going through the entire communication between the MHA and the President Secretariat, was “intrigued” to find that MHA’s summary note of October 18, 2010 forwarded to President Patil was totally silent about the September 30, 2005 order and corresponding note by Kalam. “Why this was done has not been explained by the respondents (MHA),” the Bench noted. There was no material to show that President Kalam’s order was put up before President Patil for review.
The court formed the view that “omission to make a mention of the order passed by her predecessor and note dated September 30, 2005 from the summary prepared for her consideration leads to an inference that the President was kept in the dark about the view expressed by her predecessor…” This formed a relevant consideration for the court to state that “the President was not properly advised and assisted in the disposal of the petition filed by the appellant.”
The court said, “In the summary prepared by the Home Ministry for the President’s consideration, which was signed by the Home Minister on October 18, 2010, no reference was made to the order and note dated September 30, 2005 of the then President.”
Das had approached the apex court complaining of the 12-year delay in deciding his mercy petition. In this factual backdrop, the apex court stood convinced that 12-year delay was “sufficient for commutation of the sentence” and accordingly quashed the President’s decision rejecting his mercy plea.
The decision on Das may invite a clamour from similar death row convicts as well. The files made available to the apex court further revealed that along with Das, President Kalam had recommended the Centre to commute the death penalty to five others namely R Govindasamy, Piara Singh, Satnam Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Gurudev Singh.