Afzal Guru's Mercy Petition: List of the Civil Society Members Who Signed (2013)

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Afzal Guru’s mercy plea on 3rd Feb 2013

The Union Home Ministry’s recommendation to reject the mercy petition of Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, exposed differing views within the Indian National Congress. While the party officially supported the government’s decision, several Congress leaders urged caution before the President reached a final decision. Praveen Davar, Congress secretary and editor of Supreme Saviour, publicly argued that the President was not constitutionally bound to accept the Home Ministry’s recommendation and could exercise independent discretion under the Constitution. Party leaders acknowledged that the issue carried significant political and security implications, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, where concerns were raised that an execution could further inflame an already fragile situation. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) appealed to the President to consider both the international opposition to the death penalty and the prevailing conditions in the Valley. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari stated that a mercy petition involves a serious constitutional process requiring careful consideration by both the Executive and the President, while cautioning against turning the matter into a political contest. Within the party, some leaders believed that executing Afzal Guru would remove a long-standing political issue exploited by opponents, whereas others feared it could send an adverse message to minority communities and deepen public concerns expressed by civil rights groups regarding the fairness of the trial. At the same time, other Congress functionaries emphasized that Afzal Guru’s case was being processed in line with other death-row cases, noting that the President had also rejected the mercy petitions of Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, and Mahendra Nath Das following recommendations from the Home Ministry.

“Before a mercy petition comes to the President, it passes through various stages, and different actions had already been taken. The President goes by the advice of the government.”- Pranab Mukherjee

“A mercy petition kicks off after the judicial pronouncement and involves a very serious application of mind by the Executive and the President, who does have institutional discretion,”………….“But if the Executive and the President come to a certain determination, no one has the right to play political football with that.” Mr. Manish Tewari

Tripta Wahi served as a convener of the Committee for Inquiry on December 13, while Vijay Singh was one of its members. Along with some academics, activists, and civil liberties advocates, they supported a petition seeking clemency for Afzal Guru, who had been convicted for his role in the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. The Supreme Court affirmed Afzal Guru’s death sentence in August 2005, and his wife, Tabassum Guru, submitted a mercy petition to the President of India under Article 72 of the Constitution in October 2006. Although the Ministry of Home Affairs repeatedly recommended rejection, the mercy petition remained pending for more than six years before President Pranab Mukherjee rejected it on 3 February 2013. Guru was executed in Tihar Jail on 9 February 2013. Those seeking clemency argued that the trial had been unfair, citing inadequate legal representation, insufficient evidence, and political circumstances surrounding the case, whereas supporters of the execution regarded it as the lawful and appropriate punishment for a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of security personnel and civilians.

Press Release: Home Ministry sitting on Afzal’s Mercy Petition

Date: 28-10-2010

Home Ministry, Govt of India is sitting on Afzal Guru’s mercy petition since 2006. The application is still lying with the Home Ministry. All other such petitioners have been sent to the Hon’ble President. This is the response given to BJP National Secretary, Dr. Kirit Somaiya, by the Home Ministry under RTI.

The mercy petition filed by Afzal Guru is pending with the Home Ministry since 2006.

Except Afzal Guru’s case, the Home Ministry has submitted all 25 cases of Death Penalty to the President Secretariat.

In response to RTIs filed by Dr Kirit Somaiya, BJP National Secretary, Government of India informed that similar type of mercy petitions filed by the Assassins of Smt. Indira Gandhi received in December, 1988 were rejected by the Home Ministry and submitted to the President Secretariat in the same month.

The Mercy Petitions filed by the Assassins of General A S Vaidya were also rejected and cleared by the Home Ministry and President Secretariat within a month.

In another RTI response from President Secretariat Dr. Somaiya has been informed by the President Secretariat that till now they have not received any reference/file from Home Ministry on Afzal Guru.

BJP Leader, Dr. Kirit Somaiya asked the Congress Government to stop vote bank/appeasement politics and like the killers of Smt. Indira Gandhi and General A S Vaidya, the Mercy Petition of Afzal Guru should be rejected immediately.

(Shyam Jaju)
Headquarter Incharge

List of The People who signed the mercy petition of the Terrorist Afzal Guru

Sukla Sen, EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai
Nirmalangshu Mukherji
Shakil qasmi
D N Jha, Former Professor and Head, Dept. of History, Delhi University
Shubh Mathur
Aseem Shrivastava
Jayawati Shrivastava
Naveen chander
Aurnab Ghose
c.k.vishwanath
Rebecca Kurian
Sandeep Vaidya
Gautam Sen
I. K. Shukla
Soumya Chakravarti
Shalini Gera
Raja Swamy
Rachna Toshniwal
Robin Khundkar
Rila Mukherjee
K.G. Sankara Pillai
Shobhit Mahajan
Sayan Bhattacharyya
G. Arunima
Saeed M. Ali
Binayak Sen
K.M.VENUGOPALAN
Rita Sircar Brown
Prof. Dr. Michael J. Casimir
Vinod K. Jose
Denilal
Vinod K. Jose / REPEATED
Prashant Bhushan
Kartic Chauhan
Ambar G Rao
Basharat Peer
rekha saraswat
P.K. Sasidharan
Anand Patwardhan
mangalika de silva
Balaji Narasimhan
Sanjeev Mahajan
Veena Dubal
John Pinto
Gautam Premnath
K.S. Subramanian IPS (Retd)
SM Shahed
jitendra kumar
Mohinder Singh
Shobna Sonpar
Shambhavi Prakash
Damandeep Singh
R. Das
Saheli, New Delhi
Dr. Anis Alam
Nandini Manjrekar
Nikhlesh Kumar
Siddharth Varadarajan
Vineeta Bal
rao abid hamid
Nandita Rao
Latha Jishnu
Deepti
Avanija Sundaramurti
Ram Narayan Kumar
Sahba husain
Anil chamadia
Lalita Ramdas
Charu Sudan Kasturi
Nithanth
S Irfan Habib
Vasanthi Raman
John Thomas
Sunita Abraham
Dr Y P Chhibbar
Gerry Pinto
Professor Imtiaz Ahmad
Rita Panicker
Prabha
Padma Velaskar
Rajya Sj Rao
roma solomon
Nimanthi Rajasingham
Asad Hussain
Sona Khan
Sabeeha Bano
Shoma sen
Ammu Abraham
Amrit Wilson
Kalpana Wilson
Divyaraj
Zafar Khan
Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed
Zafar Khan / REPEATED
Dr.Monirul Hussain
J. Manjrekar
Uday Benegal
Luingamla K
Abhijit Gupta
Pankaj Bisht
Rohit Prajapati
Ravindra Karnena
Chitra joshi
Neeladri Bhattacharya
Srikanth Pinninti
Mukul Mangalik
Gitika De
G P Ramachandran
Farzana Versey
Adil Khan
Kaveri Rajaraman
Angana Chatterji
Nasreen Fazalbhoy
Asad Zaidi
Nalini Taneja
Mariam Karim
Hasrat Arjjumend
Suman Sachdeva
Dr. Sharat G Lin
Ruchira Guglani
Manodeep Guha
Dithhi bhattacharya
Samir bhattacharya
Mandira bhattacharya
Abhijit mazumdar
Ajoy arora
Arun J
FARIDA NAZ
FARIDA NAZ / REPEATED
Kyle Paterson
Vijayan MJ
Sanjay Barbora
Amrita Patwardhan
Anil Tharayath Varghese
Joe Athialy
praveenpriyadarshi
Ameen Shaikh
Iftikhar A Lodhi
Anil Varghese
Samvit Prakash
Bikram Jeet Batra
junned khan
Maju Varghese
Dr. George Mathew
Taranga
Asad Bin Saif
Vaskar Nandy
Lachit Bordoloi
Basudev bose
Deepu Koshy George
Kavita Panjabi
Vasanthi V
Samantak Das
Reetika Khera
Sanjay D’Souza
koel das
saeed suhrawardy
Moinak Biswas
Prof. Hiranmoy Dhar
Muniza Khan
Prof. Dipak Malik
Dr. Anand Dipayan
Dr. Nasim Khan
Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer
Dr. Deepti Pandey
Anand Wardhan
Dr. Vijay Shiwpuri
Jaby Mathew
Bindu Menon
Jatin Jain
Deepali Gogia
Manish Singh
Gaurav
Aryakrishnan Ramakrishnan
Biju Joseph
Richa Burman
Gulzar
Manash bhattacharjee
Aakshi
Dr. Haimanti Roy
Vikneswari
Debashish Das
Primmy Kapoor
Ridhima
Sanam
Swati Arora
Amiya Dev
Subha Chakraborty Dasgupta
Anna Protano-Biggs
Debarshi Das
anushae alam
Vimala Joseph
Rahul S. Nair
Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and Lokayan
Anirban Ghosh
Paramjeet Singh
Fazil Jamili
Manzoor Hussain Memon
Shewli
Khusro Mumtaz
Shahzad Mughal
Syed Ameer Hasan
ghazala khan
suroor
Harsh Mander
Shakeel
Hanif ur Rehman
nirmal kumar chandra
L Sami
asawari kapur
s. sanjeev
b. priyaranjanlal
Mythri Prasad
Jayasree Kalathil
Anand Kapre
Ashley Tellis
Prashant Gupta
Chetan Premani
Ramkumar Sridharan
Yvonne Christie
Vaibhav Saria
Susan Abraham
Ajitha Susan George
Shad Naved
jenny rowena
ahmed memon
Rama Srinivasan
Krishna Bandyopadhyay
Raktim Gangopadhyay
Ratheesh Radhakrishnan
Jenson Joseph
Drew Christie
Javaid Lotia
Sruti bala
Lucie Prazak
Amit Chakraborty
Amit Chakraborty / REPEATED
Monica Sakhrani
Adnan
Paul edward
Ravindra S. Garia
Shaijith VM
Nima lamu yolmo
Michael kariuki
Kenneth Gonsalves
Humayun talat
Zaarah
Santhosh
Nusrat jamil ms
Dr. Sheikh Gh.Rasool Waleed
Talha Majeed Khan
Badri raina
Jocelyn Ortt-Saeed
Manvi Priya
Subhiksh Vasudev
HARSH NIWAS
Nakul
kris Leshanski
John Walker
Amrita Ghosh
Lok raj sangathan
Dilip Simeon
Rajashri Dasgupta
K.S. Sreejithkumar
Raziya Sultana
Anjana Singh
Jerome Fernandez
Anila George
Elizabeth Philip
Prakash p gopinath
Professor Dr. Upendra Baxi
Simone Fein
R. Selvam
Andrew Freeborn
jain
Ajoy George
V C Harris
Vinita Kaul
Meena Menon
Ajay Sekher
Rohan kumar
Biswatosh Saha
Chandra Kallideel
Sreekala Sivasankaran
M.T. Ansari
Samkutty Pattomkary
Dr.A.K.Ramakrishnan
Bernard D’Mello
Silky Tyagi
Firdaus Moosa
Shaijith
Prathibha V.S
Sreeharshan V.S
Nalin Bharti
Svati Joshi
Tista Bagchi
Lata singh
Lata Singh
Arif Ghaffar
Mian Zahid Ghani
Diep
Nadeem iqbal
Seela M. Mahapatra
Jessie Jandu
Geetika
Mohammed Maqsood
Sandip Kumar Dasverma
Dr. Sreelatha S.
Sarbjit Johal
Naaz Rashid
Nabina Das
P B DAS
Mohit Chandna
Nida Ali
William perry
Khalid Shahzad MIR
Himanshu U
Shammi Kumar
Shama Punwani
veena malhotra
Seena Menon
george
E. Premdas
Beneek
Sibi
Santanu Basu
Madhu Sahni
pampa mukherjee
Radhika Menon
Kailash
Shahida Khan
Mahi Pal Singh, Gen. Secy., Delhi PUCL
RITU DEWAN
Prakash Upadhyaya
Balwindar Rana
Sangeeta Mall
Raimohan Pal
Madhuri Pal
premkrishna sharma
Shabana Khan
G Rajeshkumar
waseem
Charan Shandilya
Sukumar Muralidharan
Shahab Mahmood
B.N.Patnaik
Mahfooz

Statement of the Communist Party of India (M) on the Hanging of Afzal Guru

February 26, 2013

The manner in which the death sentence was executed has come in for valid criticism. The rejection of the mercy petition was not informed to the convict and the family, and time was not given for approaching the Courts on this issue. The family of Afzal Guru was not given the opportunity to meet him for the last time. That a letter by registered and speed post was sent to the family informing them about the rejection of the mercy petition and the date of execution makes this act of commission all the more glaring and callous.

Editorial appearing in the forthcoming issue of People’s Democracy which explains the stand of CPI(M) on the hanging of Mohd. Afzal Guru.

After the hanging of Mohd. Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case, many questions have surfaced. The press conference addressed by the Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, has reinforced these questions. He has admitted that Afzal Guru was speedily executed to avoid any appeal to the court after the rejection of his mercy petition.

There has been a prolonged legal and judicial process in the case. Afzal Guru was sentenced to death in December 2002 and the case went in appeal to the High Court and the Supreme Court. After the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty in August 2005, a mercy petition by his wife was sent to the President in October 2006. The President rejected the petition on February 3, 2013.

The manner in which the death sentence was executed has come in for valid criticism. The rejection of the mercy petition was not informed to the convict and the family and time given for approaching the Courts on this issue. The family of Afzal Guru was not given the opportunity to meet him for the last time. That a letter by registered and speed post was sent to the family informing them about the rejection of the mercy petition and the date of execution makes this act of commission all the more glaring and callous.

The execution of the sentence at this time has also raised a more important issue. There are other persons who have been sentenced to death for terrorist related offences. In the case of Devenderpal Singh Bhullar his mercy petition was rejected. Another person Balwant Singh Rajoana is facing death sentence in the case of the assassination of the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh. Yet another case is of the three persons convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court. The President had rejected their mercy petitions. Subsequently, they went to court and got their execution stayed by the Madras High Court.

Unlike in these cases, the rejection of the mercy petition of Afzal Guru was followed by his instant hanging. In all these cases, political considerations have determined the implementation of the judicial verdicts. In Tamilnadu, the state assembly has passed a resolution asking for the commutation of the death sentence of the three persons. The Akali Dal led government of Punjab has opposed the execution of the death sentence in the Punjab cases. There was a bandh observed in Punjab against the hanging of Rajoana, after which the execution was stayed by the Union Government.

The people of Kashmir can conclude that Afzal Guru has been hanged given various political considerations and that this is a selective execution. The UPA government has responded to the vociferous demand raised by the BJP and Narendra Modi that Afzal Guru should be hanged. The feeling that a Kashmiri is expendable while those from other parts of India are not will only be reinforced. The problems faced in Kashmir are going to be further aggravated. With the UPA government singularly failing to take any concrete steps for advancing the political dialogue and a political solution, the way Afzal Guru was executed will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings.

The case for the abolition of the death penalty is a strong one and highly relevant. The CPI(M) is presently engaged in a discussion to review its position on the matter.

In the meantime, the shrill jingoism and triumphalism displayed by the BJP and the corporate media has to be strongly deplored. For the BJP, the fight against terrorism has become a partisan political platform to serve their narrow political interests.