Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday disposed off the petition filed for the formation of a larger bench to hear mercy petitions.
The petitioner Barrister Zafar Ullah of Watan Party filed a writ petition. The two member bench of SC headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal conducted the hearing of the case. Justice Ejaz Afzal admonished Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Sajid Bhatti for not presenting the fact and figures about the death row prisoners.
Five-member larger bench has already given its judgment in this regard. A larger bench had announced its decision after reviewing the case, then how can another larger bench be constituted, the bench asked.
DAG, in his report of 2014, told the apex court that as many as 38 mercy appeals were pending in Ministry of Interior while some 353 appeals, in the presidency adding that a total of 444 mercy appeals of death sentence have been rejected. The court rejected the report and disposed off the petition.