A legal notice has been sent requesting the disclosure of the list of individuals whose sentences have been pardoned, suspended, or reduced by the President under the authority of Article 49 of the Constitution, from January 1991 to July 2024.
This notice has been sent to the Home Secretary, the Law Secretary, the Cabinet Secretary, and the Secretary of the President’s Office.
On Sunday, August 25th, Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Md. Omar Faruq sent this notice.
The notice states that it is highly regrettable that for many years, the President, under his authority, has been pardoning many criminals, including those convicted in murder cases. Many individuals sentenced to death or life imprisonment have been released from jail due to presidential pardons and have returned to society, becoming established as mafia dons and spreading fear. As a citizen, I/we have the right to know how, by what process, and upon whose recommendation or lobbying, the President is granting pardons or reducing the sentences of notorious and infamous convicts. It is also necessary to investigate whether there has been any misuse of the President’s powers under Article 49 of the Constitution related to pardons or whether any political motive or political pressure has been involved. The notice further states that people need to know the source of the President’s pardoning power or under what law and by what process he exercises it, as well as the criteria for such sentence reductions. Therefore, I respectfully request that within 15 days of receiving this notice, a detailed description be provided of all those whose sentences were pardoned or suspended by the President, leading to their release from prison, along with the process by which they were pardoned, from January 1991 to July 2024.
The notice also mentions that if the list of pardoned individuals is not provided within the specified time frame, a writ will be filed in the High Court.
