Click to play videoNew Delhi: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Wednesday hinted that it might take several years for the government to take a decision on the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru.
Afzal was due to be hanged at Tihar Jail on October 20 this year, but the sentence has been put on hold until President APJ Abdul Kalam takes a decision on his clemency petition.
Making a statement in Rajya Sabha, Patil said the clemency petition of Afzal was pending with President and the process takes a long time. No immediate decision on the issue could be taken.
“Statistics of the past 10 years reveal that on an average it takes seven years to decide upon a mercy petition. The law will take its own course," the Home Minister said.
The statement led to uproarious scenes in the Rajya Sabha. Opposition members refused to hear Patil's statement and disrupted the proceedings by shouting slogans and trooped into the Well of the House twice, demanding that the death penalty to Afzal be carried out.
Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan tried to pacify the NDA members asking them to hear what the Home Minister had to say on the issue. However, when his repeated pleas had no effect, he adjourned the house till 1400 hrs.
On Tuesday, Patil had told Lok Sabha that time was being taken in taking a decision on the clemency plea because of the formalities involved. "The government does not want to take a hasty decision. The past records also show that the decision on clemency petitions have always been a long process," he said.
Explaining the procedures for examining a clemency petition, Patil said the government had to seek the state government's views before it is passed on to the law ministry. "If the decision of the government is not in conformity with the law, the Supreme Court can again interfere," Patil said.
He recollected that the government took five years to examine the clemency petition of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassins. Patil's remarks that some people have been trying to whip up the emotions of the family members of the slain security personnel irked BJP members, and they walked out of the House along with the Shiv Sena MPs.
But the BJP will buy none of it. In Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, as soon Zero Hour started BJP leader M M Joshi, paying homage to the security force personnel who lost their lives while defending the 'supreme body of democracy' on December 13, 2001, said that despite nine security force personnel being killed in defending Parliament, attempts were being made to save those responsible for the attack.
He urged the government to respect the supreme sacrifice made by the security force personnel and punish the guilty responsible for the attack. Pointing out that relatives of the killed security personnel have threatened to return the bravery medals awarded, in protest against the delay in punishing Mohammad Afzal, he said it was a serious matter and should be considered seriously.
Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi said though Afzal has been ordered to be hanged till death by the Supreme Court, the punishment was being delayed. Asserting that those indulging in such terror activities be punished severely, he demanded that the sentence be carried out forthwith. Other NDA members also started shouting slogans demanding that Afzal be hanged.
Earlier, both Houses of Parliament remembered the security personnel who laid their lives defending Parliament from the terror attack on this day five years ago.
Meanwhile, Md Afzal filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the death sentence awarded to him in the Parliament attack case.
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