While the limelight is on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's clemency petition pending for four years, the Indian president had once decided on a mercy plea in less than a week, reveals a Right to Information (RTI) reply.
Activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, in a RTI filed with the president's secretariat June 5, sought details about the shortest time in which a mercy petition was decided.
The president's office July 9 said that former president Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1996 decided on a mercy petition in six days.
"As per the available records, the mercy petition of condemned prisoner Ravji alias Ram Chandra from Rajasthan was decided in shortest time. His mercy petition was sent to President's Secretariat for a decision on March 13, 1996, and the decision was taken to reject it on March 19, 1996," said the reply.
Ravji was convicted of murdering his wife and three minor sons, besides attempting to murder his mother and a neighbour's wife.
Agrawal also sought details whether the president's office follows a sequence in deciding mercy petitions; the reply was yes.