Maharashtra Home Ministry ’rejects’ Kasab’s mercy plea

mangaloretoday.com/ CNN-IBN

Mumbai, Sept 24: Ajmal Amir Kasab’s mercy petition, addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, has been "rejected" by Maharashtra Home Ministry, days after the lone surviving perpetrator of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks set in motion the last option available to save his life.

"The Home Ministry has rejected Kasab’s petition and has forwarded it to the Chief Minister’s Office," sources in the home department said on Monday.

Under the rules, the Chief Minister’s Office will forward the mercy plea to the Union Home Ministry, which in turn will send it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan with its recommendation.

 

There has been a demand from several quarters for speedy implementation of the apex court order, upholding Kasab’s death sentence.

Shiv Sena had recently demanded that President Pranab Mukherjee "summarily dismiss" Kasab’s mercy petition.

Kasab had moved his plea earlier in September, over a fortnight after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

The nearly four-year legal battle launched by the 25-year-old terrorist had ended on August 29 when the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in the 26/11 attacks case, saying he killed without "the slightest twinge of conscience."