Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has upheld the execution of five death-row cases and commuted the death sentence for life terms in two others. Mercy petitions were filed by seven people, out of which five petitions were rejected.
The President, under the Article 72 of the Constitution has the power to grant pardons and also to suspend, remit or commute sentences in special cases. At present, no petitions are pending with the Indian President.
According to reports, some of the people who received the sentences included Gurmeet Singh from Uttar Praesh was convicted for killing 13 members of a family on August 17, 1986. Dharampal from Haryana had killed five members of the family of a girl who he had raped in the year 1993 and Sonia, a daughter of a former MLA of Haryana and husband Sanjeev, had killed eight members of her family in Hisar in the year 2001.
Ramji and Suresh from the state of Uttar Pradesh were convicted for killing five members of their brother’s family. There were also other cases on the President’s desk. Jafar Ali from the state of Uttar Pradesh was convicted for killing his wife and daughters in the year 2002. Sundar Singh from the state of Uttar Pradesh was convicted for rape and murder in the month of June 1989.
