Denying that the then President, Pratibha Patil, was kept in the dark, the Home Ministry says her predecessor A.P.J. Kalam’s acceptance of a mercy petition from Mahendra Nath Das of Assam, who was sentenced to death in a murder case, was conveyed to her.
“When a mercy petition is considered, a basic note is prepared by the [MHA] division concerned and the Joint Secretary concerned submits the same through the Additional Secretary and the Home Secretary to the Home Minister. In the case of Das, a basic note was prepared on September 30, 2010. Paragraph 10 of the basic note extracted the view recorded by Dr. Kalam. The Joint Secretary, who submitted the note to the Home Minister, also referred to the view of Dr. Kalam,” an official statement said. “The Home Minister recorded his advice to the President on October 12, 2010. Thereafter, a summary for the President was submitted to the President on October 18,” says the statement