2.6.8. Pardoning Powers

Article 72 mentions that:

1) The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence

a) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;

b) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;

c) in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

2) Nothing in sub clause (a) of Clause (1) shall affect the power to suspend, remit or commute a sentence of death exercisable by the Governor of a State under any law for the time being in force.

Meaning of these terms can be understood as:

Pardon: It removes both the sentence and conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments and disqualifications.

Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, like physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.

Remission: It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.

Commutation: It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a lighter form. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which in turn may be commuted to a simple imprisonment.

Note that the pardoning power of the President is independent of the judiciary – it is an executive power. The President while exercising this power doesn’t sit as a Court of Appeal. The object of conferring this power to President is twofold:

♤ To keep the door open for correcting any judicial errors in the operation of the law

♤ To afford relief from a sentence, which the President regards as unduly harsh.