Collective (Conscience) Killer?

President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected 42 and accepted seven mercy petitions during his tenure. There has been a marked increase in rejections of mercy petitions in recent years, especially, after Mukherjee assumed office in 2012. Former presidents have chosen to exercise “pocket veto” that is, delaying the presidential assent.

The most recent rejections of mercy petitions by the President are of five people charged with similar offences but in different cases. One set of rejections is for the accused cab driver and his friend of gang rape and murder of a working woman in Pune. The other set of rejections relates to two persons accused of raping and killing a minor girl. In the second case, the Supreme Court had dismissed the appeal summarily.