{"id":33173,"date":"2024-12-04T18:30:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=33173"},"modified":"2024-12-10T22:16:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T16:46:52","slug":"pardoning-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/04-12-2024\/pardoning-power","title":{"rendered":"Pardoning Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS 2\/Governance&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>President Joe Biden granted an unconditional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/pardoning-power-of-president-governor\/\">pardon <\/a>to his son, Hunter Biden, for tax and gun convictions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>U.S. President\u2019s Pardon Procedure<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The U.S. President has the power to grant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/pardoning-power-of-president-governor\/\">pardons <\/a>for <strong>federal criminal offenses <\/strong>under the U.S. Constitution, <strong>except in cases of impeachment.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Does not erase the criminal record but alleviates penalties and restores certain rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Discretionary Nature:<\/strong> The president has unilateral clemency authority, independent of Congressional approval.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pardoning Power in Indian system<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 72 and Article 161 <\/strong>of the Indian Constitution grant the <strong>President <\/strong>and <strong>Governors <\/strong>the power to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/pardoning-power-of-president-governor\/\">pardon <\/a>or alter sentences, based on the advice of the council of ministers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/pardoning-power-of-president-governor\/\">pardon <\/a>in India absolves the offender from conviction, punishment, and disqualifications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scope of <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/pardoning-power-of-president-governor\/\"><strong>Pardon Power:<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>Article 72 (President\u2019s Power): The President can grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions for federal offenses, including death sentences and cases involving Union laws.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Article 161 (Governor\u2019s Power): Governors can grant similar powers for state offenses and matters under the State\u2019s executive authority.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Comparison of US and Indian Pardon Powers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e3e3e3\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Comparison-of-US-and-Indian-Pardon-Powers-1024x434.png\" alt=\"Comparison of US and Indian Pardon Powers\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-33174\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e3e3e3; width:727px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Comparison-of-US-and-Indian-Pardon-Powers-1024x434.png 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Comparison-of-US-and-Indian-Pardon-Powers-300x127.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Comparison-of-US-and-Indian-Pardon-Powers-768x326.png 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Comparison-of-US-and-Indian-Pardon-Powers.png 1486w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Legal and Ethical Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Arbitrariness<\/strong>: Critics argue that the power can be exercised arbitrarily, leading to perceptions of favoritism or political bias.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Transparency<\/strong>: The decision-making process behind granting pardons is often opaque, leading to calls for greater transparency and accountability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact on Justice System<\/strong>: Pardons can undermine the judiciary&#8217;s authority and the principle of equal justice under the law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What can be the way forward?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The power to pardon is a vital tool for justice and mercy, but its use must be carefully balanced to avoid undermining the rule of law and public trust in the justice system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For modern democracies, pardoning power should be exercised transparently, without nepotism or arbitrariness, to maintain public trust in constitutional offices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Difference Between Statutory and Constitutional Power<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Statutory Power<\/strong>: Under the CrPC (Sections 432-435), the \u201cappropriate government\u201d can grant remission or commutation. For cases investigated by Central agencies like the CBI, the State must consult the Central government.<br>&#8211; <strong>Constitutional Power:<\/strong> Under Articles 72 and 161, the President and Governor act on the advice of the government to grant clemency, not independently. The two powers (statutory and constitutional) are separate, as clarified by the Supreme Court in cases like Maru Ram (1980) and Kehar Singh (1988).<br> 1. The Supreme Court has ruled it can be subject to judicial review in cases of arbitrariness or improper motives.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden granted an unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, for tax and gun convictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33175,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33173\/revisions\/33175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}