Who is the President who pardoned the most death sentences?

President Can Pardon Death Sentence: The mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the murder case of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, is pending with President Draupadi Murmu. The decision to spare his life was taken by the government in 2019 to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Balwant Singh Rajoana has been in jail for 28 years. Now he is demanding release from jail. In this case, the Supreme Court has requested the President to decide on Rajoana’s mercy petition within two weeks.

What decision the President takes in this matter will be known only when the time comes. But apart from this, know how many mercy petitions have been filed in the country now. Since the implementation of the Constitution in 1950, 440 mercy petitions have been filed before all the Presidents. Of these, 308 mercy petitions were accepted and the death sentence of the convicts was commuted to life imprisonment.

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President Draupadi Murmu had rejected the mercy petition of terrorist Arif involved in the Red Fort attack. This was the second time after he assumed office that he had rejected someone’s mercy petition. The Supreme Court had also rejected Arif’s review petition on November 3, 2022. The court had upheld the death penalty for his crime.

The President has the right to pardon
Under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution, a convicted person can file a mercy petition before the President. The purpose of the pardon power of the President is to give time to the convict to seek pardon from the President or reduce his sentence. The President can temporarily stay any punishment. Governors of states also have the right to grant pardon. They have got this right under Article 161 of the Indian Constitution. The President takes the advice of the Union Cabinet on this, but the final decision depends entirely on his discretion. Mercy petition is the last step of the legal process in India. If the President rejects the mercy petition of a convict then he is left with no legal option.

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Kovind rejected all the petitions
The country’s 14th President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected all the mercy petitions that came before him. First of all he rejected the mercy petition of Jagat Rai, the murderer of six people of district Vaishali (Bihar). Jagat Rai had killed a woman by locking her five children inside the house and setting them on fire. Kovind also received mercy petitions from the four accused in the Nirbhaya murder case, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh, which he rejected. All four of them were hanged together in Tihar Jail. Kovind had rejected Sanjay’s last mercy petition during his tenure. Sanjay was given death penalty in July 2006.

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Who received the most petitions?
The highest number of mercy petitions reached the country’s first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Rajendra Prasad had received 181 mercy petitions during his tenure. This is the highest number of mercy petitions received by any other President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad accepted 180 mercy petitions and commuted the sentence of the culprits to life imprisonment. He rejected only one mercy petition. After Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and VV Giri graced the post of President. 57 mercy petitions were filed before Radhakrishnan, 22 before Zakir Hussain and three before VV Giri. These three changed the death sentence to life imprisonment in all the petitions received by them.

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Venkatraman rejected the maximum number of petitions
The fourth President of the country, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, did not receive even a single mercy petition. The next President N Sanjeev Reddy also did not receive any mercy petition. Zail Singh, who was among the famous Presidents, received a total of 32 petitions and out of these, he accepted only two petitions. Accepted and rejected the remaining 30 petitions. The next President R Venkatraman rejected 45 petitions out of 50, which is the highest.

Tags: Draupadi Murmu, explainer, President Draupadi Murmu, President of India