Posted by: santoshgiri March 26, 2006
The King must PARDON !!! (A constitutional provision)
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The conflicting parties, our politicians, the ultimate power-centers and their leaders have been demonstrating self-centered myopia. In order to bring an end to the ongoing conflict and initiate reconstruction, the first requirement for CPN (M) is to give up their arms, amidst adequate and rational guarantee of protection and amnesty from the government. The reconstruction era envisaging a New Nepal is profound solely on primary basis of constitutional reconciliation. The monarch, an inevitable party to this national resolution, has the ultimate role to exercise this constitutional reconciliation option of granting ‘unconditional’ pardon under article 122 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990. Article 122 Pardons His Majesty shall have the power to grant pardons and to suspend commute or remit any sentence passed by any court, special court, and military court or by any other judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative authority or institution. His Majesty’s power to pardon can be interpreted as granting pardon to all those who have raised arms against the state, pardoning those who have been issued criminal charges during the armed conflict, who have been denied of their civil rights and for those who are already under detention. Pardon or Amnesty or Clemency Pardon or Amnesty or Clemency is the action of a government by which all persons or certain groups of persons who have committed a criminal offense, usually of a political nature that threatens the sovereignty of the government (such as sedition or treason), are granted immunity from prosecution. It allows the government of a nation or state to “forget” criminal acts, usually before prosecution has occurred. Amnesty has traditionally been used as a political tool of compromise and reunion following a war. Pardon or amnesty or clemency has been an inevitable part of the governments in nearly every nation. Since ancient times, the head of the states have been seen exercising their right to pardon. Pardon often operates as an arbitrary exception. Under common law, a pardon is an act of mercy whereby the king “forgives any crime, offence, punishment, execution, right, title, debt, or duty.” According to an early pronouncement of the United States Supreme Court, a full or unconditional pardon not only releases the offender from any punishment for her crime, but also vitiates moral guilt for the offense, so that in the eyes of the law she is as innocent as if she had never been charged or convicted. Pardons may be granted either before or after conviction, but are most commonly used to restore the reputation and civil rights of an individual. Pardon has its genesis in the sovereign’s power to grant mercy to those who violate the law. The notion of dispensing pardon is limited only to the ingenuity of the human being and our humanity. Pardon has always been considered an extraordinary remedy that can be extended for any appropriate reason and under any circumstances. One of the Justices in a US Supreme Court case had characterized the earliest pardons as “private acts of grace from an individual happening to possess power.” “Mercy” has always been extended by those in power. Crown’s use of the pardon power to ensure that justice is administered with mercy is one of the great advantages of monarchy over any other kind of government. Pardons are also seen as “repeated acts of goodness” which may consolidate the monarch’s power too. Mercy and truth preserves a king, and by pardon, his throne is strengthened. An unconditional pardon is a formal forgiveness by the government that restores liberties, to the subjects. A conditional pardon has some strings attached, such as serving a lesser punishment. A pardon can be granted in anticipation of conviction of any crimes.
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