Bhawani Mahapatra (Law Officer) 29 August 2012

Mercy petition

Dear Experts

Now the Supreme Court has confirmed the conviction of 'KASAB". Now my question is whether is there any restriction for a foreign national convicted by Indian Courts to move a mercy petition. What is the position of Law on it ??

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4 Replies

Democratic Indian (n/a) 30 August 2012

Filing mercy petition is part and parcel of the due process of law. And the due process has been firmly entrenched in Article 21 by Supreme Court in our Constitutional law. There can be no restriction on foreigners from applying mercy petition due to the simple fact that equality before law is guaranteed to all persons under Article 14 of the Constitution and Life and Liberty is equally guaranteed to all persons under Article 21 of the Constitution. Such a discriminatory restriction on foreigners would be a clear violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Bhawani Mahapatra (Law Officer) 30 August 2012

But the Constitution is made by and for the Indian Only & it will safeguard the rights of Indian only. The very preamble though speaks " We the people of India................." My question is whether Our Constituion is under obligation to grant right to life, liberty & equality of every citizen of the World.

Democratic Indian (n/a) 30 August 2012

I would request you to please read Part III of the Constitution. Wherever Fundamental Right is guaranteed to citizens, the word citizen is used. For example in Article 19 the rights are guaranteed to citizens. Wherever the word person is used, it can be any person, including foreigner, organization etc. In Article 21, Right to Life and Liberty is guaranteed to not only citizens but persons which includes non citizens as well.

My question is whether Our Constituion is under obligation to grant right to life, liberty & equality of every citizen of the World.

Please note, the Constitution is not doing "grant" of Life and Liberty or any Fundamental Right for this matter. No government document can "grant" Fundamental Rights. Fundamental Rights were already there before any government or Constitution was ever created. Constitution is merely guaranteeing the fundamental rights from infringement. If you read Part III of the Constitution, nowhere the word "grant" is used in Part III due to this reason.

The answer to your question is yes, the Constitution is under liability to guarantee life and liberty equally for every citizen of the world within the territory of India.