Swami Shraddananda seeks direction to President to decide mercy plea: Centre tells SC
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the plea of 84-year-old self-styled spiritual leader Swami Shraddananda, who is serving a 30-year jail sentence without remission for killing his wife, has virtually sought a direction for the President to decide his mercy petition.
The Additional Solicitor General K. M. Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said, "However, the prayer (of Shraddananda) is virtually seeking a direction to the President to do it. Whether such a prayer could be considered at all?"
The two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice B. R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, was hearing a petition filed by Shraddananda alias Murali Manohar Mishra seeking a direction to the authorities to decide his mercy plea filed before the President in December 2023.
During the course of the hearing on Friday, the apex court, after hearing that he had been in jail for 30 years without a single remission, said, "You (Shraddananda) must thank this court that you were saved that time," and posted the hearing further after two weeks.
On the last date of hearing in the case, the top court asked lawyer Varun Thakur, appearing for Shraddananda, to provide a copy of his plea to the Centre to enable the government to prepare and study his case and come up with some reply.
Shraddananda argued before the apex court that he had been in jail for 30 years without a single day of parole or any remission. The mercy petition he filed before the President in December 2023 was pending for consideration.
Thakur said that, as the petitioner was suffering from multiple diseases, he sought the apex court to direct the respondent authorities to decide his mercy petition as soon as possible.
Last year, on 11 September, the bench of the top court, headed by Justice Gavai, was hearing a review petition filed by Shraddananda seeking reconsideration of a judgment that imposed on him a life sentence (without remission) for killing his wife, Shakereh Khaleeli (granddaughter of the Dewan of Mysore, Sir Mirza Ismail). His petition sought release from jail.
In one of the hearings, the court refused to entertain his writ petition seeking release from jail; however, it agreed to hear a separate plea requesting a review of the apex court’s July 2008 verdict, which directed that he remain in prison for the rest of his life.
He, in a surprise argument, earlier told the top court that he desperately pleaded for his release, as he said that his imprisonment till his biological death, awarded to him, is far worse than capital punishment.
"I want my jail sentence to be changed to hanging," he had told the apex court.
In a surprising argument, he previously told the top court that he desperately pleaded for his release, stating that the sentence of imprisonment until his biological death was far worse than capital punishment.
"I want my jail sentence to be changed to hanging," he had told the apex court.
The top court refused a request by Shraddananda that he should be allowed to decide his jail sentence.
"It is not the convict's right to decide his or her jail sentence," the apex court said.
Shraddananda sought relief from the top court on the ground that he has been in "continuous incarceration" without any parole or remission so far, and nothing adverse has been reported against him during his stay in jail.
"I have won 5 best qaidi (prisoner) awards, so thereby this court should take all these factors into consideration and release me from jail," he said.
He claimed that he is suffering from health issues and, therefore, this court should release him from jail.
The trial court and the High Court had sentenced him to death, but the sentence was commuted by the Supreme Court in 2008 to imprisonment until death.