Under Article 72, The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence
- Under Article 72, The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence
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- in all cases where the punishment or sentence is given by a Court Martial
- in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends
- in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death
What is the role of government?
- The President cannot exercise his power of pardon independent of the government.
- Rashtrapati Bhawan forwards the mercy plea to the Home Ministry, seeking the Cabinet’s advice.
- Although the President is bound by the Cabinet’s advice, Article 74(1) empowershim to return it for reconsideration once.
- If the Council of Ministers decides againstany change, the President has no option but to accept it.
Is this comes under judicial review?
- The SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness.
Clemency powers of the President under article 72-
Pardon –A pardon completely absolves the offender from all sentences and punishment and disqualifications and places him in the same position as if he had never committed the offence.
Commutation– Commutation means exchange of one thing for another. In simple words to replace the punishment with less severe punishment. For example for Rigorous imprisonment-simple imprisonment.
Reprieve– Reprieve means temporary suspension of death sentence. For example- pending a proceeding for pardon or commutation.
Respite – Respite means awarding a lesser punishment on some special grounds. For example- the Pregnancy of women offender.
Remissions– Remission means the reduction of the amount of sentence without changing its character, for example, a sentence of 1 year may be remitted to 6 months.
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