04 December 2007 :

as the debate rages over the delay in the execution of Mohammed Afzal for his attacks on Parliament, the National Human Rights Commission said the high courts and Supreme Court can commute a death penalty to a life term if there is inordinate delay in its execution. In an exclusive interview to the Hindustan Times, NHRC chairman Justice S. Rajendra Babu said that though the Commission was yet to take a formal stand on the death penalty, it was possible to recommend to Parliament to abolish it altogether. He said that in many cases where the period between the sentencing and the execution has been particularly long, the Supreme Court has commuted a death sentence to a life sentence. The Supreme Court has already dismissed his appeal, review and curative petitions. However, the Centre has been sleeping on his mercy petition to the President. Going by Justice Babu’s views, the delay in Afzal’s execution can become a valid ground for commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment.