If we look into the status of capital punishment in the country we'll find that as many as 14 mercy petitions from 18 convicts are pending before President Pranab Mukherjee, following the rejection of a similar plea from Mumbai terror attacks convict Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged in Pune Wednesday morning.

Among the pleas pending is one from Mohammed Afzal Guru, a death row convict in the December 2001 terror attack on parliament. As per information available from the home ministry, in response to an RTI query from activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, there were 15 mercy petitions from 19 condemned prisoners under Article 72 of the Constitution till Nov 5, when Mukherjee rejected the petition from Kasab.

One of the mercy pleas submitted in March this year from Balwant Singh Rajoana, killer of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, is also part of the list. It's worth mentioning that Since 1981, Indian presidents have considered and disposed of 98 mercy petitions, the latest being that of Kasab.
With inputs from the web

(AW-Jyotishman)