NEW DELHI: A month before demitting office, President Pranab Mukherjee rejected mercy petitions in two cases. This brings the total mercy pleas rejected by him to 30. The petitions were rejected in the last week of May.The first case pertained to the 2012 rape and murder of a four-year old girl in Indore by three men, and the other to the gang rape and murder of a techie in Pune by a cab driver and his accomplice. He has also commuted to life the death sentences of four convicts, the last being in January.There is no fixed time for the President to decide on a mercy plea. Pratibha Patil demitted office without taking a decision on any of the mercy pleas before her.

Source: Times of India June 16, 2017 22:54 UTC