NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the plea of 84-year-old self-styled spiritual leader Swami Shraddananda, who is serving a 30-year jail sentence without remission for killing his wife, has virtually sought a direction for the President to decide his mercy petition.The Additional Solicitor General K. M. Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said, “However, the prayer (of Shraddananda) is virtually seeking a direction to the President to do it. Whether such a prayer could be considered at all?”The two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice B. R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, was hearing a petition filed by Shraddananda alias Murali Manohar Mishra seeking a direction to the authorities to decide his mercy plea filed before the President in December 2023.During the course of the hearing on Friday, the apex court, after hearing that he had been in jail for 30 years without a single remission, said, “You (Shraddananda) must thank this court that you were saved that time,” and posted the hearing further after two weeks.On the last date of hearing in the case, the top court asked lawyer Varun Thakur, appearing for Shraddananda, to provide a copy of his plea to the Centre to enable the government to prepare and study his case and come up with some reply.Shraddananda argued before the apex court that he had been in jail for 30 years without a single day of parole or any remission. The mercy petition he filed before the President in December 2023 was pending for consideration.
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