President Pranab Mukherjee had a few questions & a 2-hr meet with Rajnath Singh

WATCH: Why Nothing Could Keep Yakub Memom From The Gallows

It is learnt that all legal experts told him that under the Constitution, the President has to act as per the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers whose decision, in this case, had been conveyed to him through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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The experts also pointed out that Yakub had exhausted all legal options available to him. Besides, in this case, there is no ground for grant of mercy, they said.

The ministry has been steadfast in its rejection of Yakub’s petition for mercy, opposing it at all fora. The options for Mukherjee, therefore, were limited. He could have sent the plea back for reconsideration but had the ministry conveyed the same decision again, he would have had to reject it.

After the President referred Yakub’s fresh mercy plea to the ministry earlier in the day, top ministry officials waited for a copy of the Supreme Court judgment before going into a huddle with Law Secretary P K Malhotra.

Rajnath Singh and Home Secretary L C Goyal also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the mercy petition.

Malhotra conveyed that the Supreme Court’s verdict was clear, and that there were no grounds to grant mercy. The government should reaffirm its earlier stand of rejecting the mercy petition, the Law Secretary advised.

With the ministry sticking to its 2014 stand of advising rejection of the mercy plea, Rajnath Singh went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to formally convey the stand. He put forward the legal position on the fresh mercy petition, and conveyed his ministry’s advice. Home Secretary Goyal also went to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The ministry will convey the President’s decision to the Maharashtra government.

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