Cm To Meet President Today

[Azaad]

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is likely to meet President Pratibha Patil tomorrow to make a personal appeal for clemency to Balwant Singh Rajoana. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said an appointment had been sought and had also been granted in principle.

They said the CM is expected to urge putting off the directive to hang Rajoana on March 31, as an appeal was being filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this connection.

Meanwhile, Badal left for Delhi immediately after rounding up the debate on the Governor’s address in the Vidhan today afternoon. He was back in Chandigarh late in the evening. His office said the Chief Minister had gone to Delhi to consult legal experts.

Delegation submits clemency petition

NEW DELHI: Even as Punjab-based political parties are vying with each other to save Rajoana from the gallows, a Sikh delegation today submitted a ‘mercy petition’ to President Partibha Patil to commute his death penalty to life sentence.

Among the signatories of the petition were Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) chief Parmjit Singh Sarna, Former Additional Solicitor General of India, KTS Tulsi and president of the International Punjabi Civil Society, RS Jaura. Sarna said they met the first secretary to the President, Christy Fernandez, at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

Sarna said they told the official that the co-accused in the case, who had more serious charges against them, were given life imprisonment, but Rajoana was awarded death sentence.