pardoning power

Article 72 gives the President power to grant pardons and other clemency for offences under Union laws, sentences by court martial and all death sentences. Article 161 gives the Governor a similar power for offences against laws within the State's executive power; it does not extend to court-martial sentences, which only the President can deal with.

The power is exercised on the advice of the Council of Ministers, not personally. It is not an appeal on the merits, and the convict has no right to an oral hearing. Judicial review is limited: the Supreme Court will interfere only if the decision is mala fide, arbitrary, based on irrelevant considerations or made without applying the mind.

Example

Since the pardoning power is exercised on ministerial advice, a mercy petition decided on political considerations alone is open to judicial review.

In Indian law

• Articles 72 and 161, Constitution of India
• Kehar Singh v. Union of India, 1988 INSC 368: the President may examine the evidence afresh; no right to oral hearing; limited judicial review
• Epuru Sudhakar v. Govt. of A.P., 2006 INSC 695: clemency orders reviewable for mala fides and irrelevant considerations

See also

pardon · remission · commutation · death penalty

Read more in the study notes

• Execution, suspension, remission and commutation of sentences; mercy petitions (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• The President of India (Constitutional Law II)
• Acceptance and rejection of goods, the unpaid seller, and frustration (International Trade Economics)
• Reform of justice delivery: legal aid, Lok Adalats, ADR, Gram Nyayalayas, PIL and plea bargaining (Law and Social Transformation in India)
• The riddle of capital punishment (Penology and Victimology)
• The executive: meaning, types, functions; parliamentary, presidential and plural executives (Political Science - Organisation and Institution)