Sena moves Bill to prevent Kasab from filing mercy plea

Sena moves Bill to prevent Kasab from filing mercy plea

Shiv Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut on Thursday moved a draft Constitution Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha to prevent Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, convicted in the 26/11 attacks, from filing a clemency petition before President Pranab Mukherjee. Raut, who hails from Mumbai, argued, “There are adequate provisions in the Constitution to award the highest punishment to the accused after the Supreme Court has given its final verdict.” The Shiv Sena, along with other political parties in the city, have demanded that the apex court’s verdict upholding the death penalty awarded to Kasab by the Bombay high court should immediately be acted on. The ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party combine is also on the same page. Fearing that Kasab’s execution could be delayed due to a legal wrangle, Sena decided to take its plea to Parliament. The proposed amendment, which was moved in the Rajya Sabha, is as follows: “Nothing in sub-clause (c) of clause (1) shall be applicable in all cases in which Supreme Court of India has held any accused(s) guilty for waging war against India under Section 121, 121(a) and 122 of Indian Penal Code.” Raut expressed the fear that Kasab may go the Afzal Guru way, who has not been executed even eight years after the SC upheld his death sentence for attacking Parliament in December 2001 since his mercy petition to the President is yet to be disposed of. In the draft, the Sena MP said, “The acts of violence perpetuated by the above accused amount to waging [a] war against India and therefore, should not be considered within a normal parameter.” He claimed that there is also a public consensus on Kasab’s immediate execution.