The Hindu: Patna: Sunday,
January 26, 2014.
The status of
the mercy petitions of four death row convicts in Bihar is shrouded in mystery
as the Centre and State governments remain clueless.
Recently, the
Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of 15 death row convicts, including
those convicted under the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act, citing delay in disposal of their pleas.
However, the
petitions of Krishna Mochi, Nanhe Lal Mochi, Bir Kuer Paswan and Dharmendra
Singh alias Dharu Singh, who were also tried under TADA in the 1992 Bara
massacre case, seem to be untraceable.
“We sent the
original copy of the petitions to the State government and we did not keep a
copy,” B.C.P. Singh, Director, Industries, under the Inspectorate of Prisons
and Correctional Services, told The Hindu.
A letter sent
by the Inspectorate to the government of India, dated May 13, 2013, lists the
names of the four convicts as those whose petitions are still pending. Asked
about the status of the petitions, the Ministry of Home Affairs told The Hindu
on Friday that it had no knowledge of having received them.
“They could
be pending with the Governor,” a department official said.
“The State
and the Governor have no jurisdiction because this is a TADA case,” said Yug
Chaudhry, one of the lawyers representing the 15 prisoners in the recent
Supreme Court case. “It will come under the Central government.”
Mr. Chaudhry
also referred to a Right to Information query on pending mercy petitions, filed
by a set of lawyers. The statement of pending mercy petitions obtained under
RTI in 2011 does not mention the four convicts.
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