-The Times of India
Rashtrapati Bhawan has defended granting clemency to an unprecedented 35 death row convicts saying the power to pardon was not a private act of grace but a constitutional obligation.
A statement from the President’s office said President Pratibha Patil had not acted in haste or played to the gallery and the clemency petitions had been commuted only after due examination and on the aid and advice of the home minister. "In all these backlog and fresh cases, the home minister has examined the mitigating and extenuating circumstances and spelt out specific reasons substantiating his considered advice. In turn, the President took well considered decisions after having fully satisfied that he government has tendered its aid and advice properly and constitutionally," the statement said.
President’s office spokesperson Archana Dutta argued that it was common knowledge that all death convicts seeking mercy had committed ghastly and heinous crimes of the rarest of rare category. "Nevertheless, the Constitution confers on them the right to seek clemency," Dutta said.
The President’s office, however, did not explain how a convict, Bandu Balarao Tikade, dead since 2007, had been granted clemency.