Afzal execution may be deferred

The execution of Afzal Guru may not take place on October 20 as scheduled as his family filed a mercy petition with President A P J Abdul Kalam in the midst of the raging controversy over a reprieve for the Parliament terror attack convict.

This follows the Home Ministry receiving a copy of the mercy plea from the Rashtrapati Bhavan for scrutiny of all the aspects before it gives its opinion to the President who has to decide whether to grant him clemency, sources told PTI.

The Delhi government and the authorities in Tihar Jail, where the execution is slated for October 20, have been informed about the receipt of the mercy petition, a procedure followed in almost in all cases to give adequate time for consideration of the petition, sources said.

The sources declined to say how long the process of examining the petition would take. The development came on a day when Afzal's wife and aged mother approached Kalam seeking commutation of the death sentence even as the families of the victims of the terror attack on Decemeber 13, 2001, also met the President to campaign against any relief to him.

Should Afzal be pardoned?