Congress leader P Chidambaram Thursday slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim of a delay in the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as a “lie and distortion”. Shah had claimed in Rajya Sabha a day earlier that the death sentence could not be carried out for as long as Chidambaram was home minister. The Congress leader said Shah’s statement was a mixture of insinuation, lie and distortion. He said the mercy petition filed by Guru’s wife was pending before the President when he was home minister. “The statement is a mixture of insinuation, lie and distortion. After the conviction and sentence by the Courts, Afzal Guru’s wife filed, on his behalf, a mercy petition to the President of India in October 2006,” Chidambaram said. “The President rejected the mercy petition on 3-2-2013. Afzal Guru was hanged six days later on 9-2-2013. I was Home Minister during 1-12-2008 and 31-7-2012. During the entire period, the mercy petition was pending before the President. The law is that a sentence of death cannot be carried out until the mercy petition is disposed of,” he said.
