Please refer to the following news item in the Times of India:
"Afzal Guru wants to stay in jail nearer home
TNN, Feb 12, 2011, 12.48am ISTTags:Tihar Jail|Afzal Guru
NEW DELHI: Five and a half years after he was sentenced to death for the terrorist attack on Parliament, Mohammad Afzal Guru on Friday requested the Supreme Court to ask the Centre to shift him from Tihar Jail in Delhi to one nearer to his home in Srinagar.
Before issuing notice to the Centre on his petition, a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked his counsel V C Mahajan about the status of the mercy plea filed by Afzal before the President.
The counsel said his client had received no communication from the government on the status of the mercy plea. Afzal had filed a petition to shift him from Tihar Jail to a jail in J&K citing his family members' inability to meet him at Delhi because of poor financial condition.
He was awarded capital punishment which was upheld by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005. He had filed a mercy petition on January 4, 2006, with the President.
The Bench was not inclined to accede to Afzal's plea for lodging him in a prison nearer to his home and asked for an alternative. "Can you suggest a jail outside Jammu and Kashmir," it inquired.
Mahajan suggested Pathankot in Punjab, which neighbours Jammu and Kashmir. The Bench agreed to seek the Centre's response to this suggestion.
Afzal had said his 80-year-old mother and 11-year-old son find it extremely difficult to travel to Delhi and that his family was not financially sound to bear the expenses of travelling to Delhi frequently for a meeting."
Before issuing notice to the Centre on his petition, a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked his counsel V C Mahajan about the status of the mercy plea filed by Afzal before the President.
The counsel said his client had received no communication from the government on the status of the mercy plea. Afzal had filed a petition to shift him from Tihar Jail to a jail in J&K citing his family members' inability to meet him at Delhi because of poor financial condition.
He was awarded capital punishment which was upheld by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005. He had filed a mercy petition on January 4, 2006, with the President.
The Bench was not inclined to accede to Afzal's plea for lodging him in a prison nearer to his home and asked for an alternative. "Can you suggest a jail outside Jammu and Kashmir," it inquired.
Mahajan suggested Pathankot in Punjab, which neighbours Jammu and Kashmir. The Bench agreed to seek the Centre's response to this suggestion.
Afzal had said his 80-year-old mother and 11-year-old son find it extremely difficult to travel to Delhi and that his family was not financially sound to bear the expenses of travelling to Delhi frequently for a meeting."
It seems that the President of India would never decide on the mercy petition of Afzal Guru because of Vote Bank politics as she does not want to displease Muslims and lose their votes.
Satbir Singh Bedi
-- Palash Biswas
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