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Law has to take its course in Afzal case: Congress

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday said the Parliament attack case convict, Afzal Guru’s act was “unpardonable” but as for his hanging, the law would have to take its course. According to the law, mercy petitions which were filed earlier would have to be decided first, the party said.

Reacting to the BJP’s criticism of the delay in hanging him, the Congress asked why the National Democratic Alliance government sat on 15 mercy petitions from death row convicts during its tenure when L.K. Advani was Home Minister.

Of the 28 mercy petitions pending since 1997, 15 were filed during the NDA regime and 12 after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power in 2004, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.

As for the BJP’s charge of Muslim appeasement, he asked whether the community would be placated if Afzal’s death sentence was commuted or he was pardoned. “We do not think so and we reject the charge with the contempt it deserves. Every Muslim in this country is as patriotic as any other citizen.”

Mr. Tewari said: “Afzal is convicted of an unpardonable act. He has been convicted by three courts. But the law has to be followed. When someone has been subjected to a judicial process, that process has to be taken to its logical conclusion and the logical conclusion is that mercy petitions would be disposed of in the order they are filed. India is not a banana republic. It is based on the rule of law.”

Asked whether it would take a decade to decide Afzal’s case as mercy cases had been pending for decades, Mr. Tewari said, “I am not commenting on the time frame.”

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