I.A. Ansari, J.

1. With the help of this writ petition, made under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, being mother of the convict, who stands sentenced to death and whose mercy petition also stands rejected by the President, has put to challenge the rejection of the mercy petition and she seeks issuance of appropriate writ(s) commanding the respondents to commute the sentence of death into one of imprisonment for a reasonable period of time.

2. Before we come to the important issues, which have been raised in this writ petition, it is apposite to correctly take note of the background in which the issues have been raised. For this purpose, the material facts and various stages, which have led to filing of the present writ petition, need to be fully appreciated. With this end in view, the material facts and various stages, leading to this writ petition, are, in brief, set out as under:

(i) The history of the present case is traceable to Bharalumukh Police Station Case No.286/1990. The petitioner's son, Mohendra Das @ Gobinda, came to be arrested, on 25.12.1990, in connection with the said case. On completion of investigation, police laid charge-sheet against the accused under Sections 448/302 IPC. The case, on being committed to the Court of Sessions, came to be registered as Sessions Case No.80 (K)/1996 under Section 302 IPC.

(ii) During trial, when charges under Sections 448 and 302 IPC were framed, the accused pleaded not guilty thereto. The accused was, however, allowed to go on bail on 26.02.1991. The case, which was so registered against the accused, ended in conviction of the accused under Section 302 IPC and the accused was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life with fine of Rs. 10,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of four years. The accused was so convicted and sentenced by judgment and order, dated 12.02.1998, passed, in Sessions Case No.80(K)/1996, by the learned Sessions Judge, Kamrup.

(iii) The accused, while undergoing the sentence of imprisonment for life, as indicated above, preferred an appeal from jail, which came to be registered as Criminal Appeal No. 2(J)/1998. What the prosecution's case, against the accused was, can be best described in the language of the Division Bench of this Court, which had decided the appeal. D. Biswas, J, who spoke for the Division Bench, described the case against the accused as under:

2. The incident took place on 24.12.1990 at about 12 noon in the office of the Assam Motor Workers' Union situated at Bharalu-mukh in the city of Guwahati. At the relevant time, deceased Rajen Das, who was then Secretary of the Assam Motor Workers' Union, was taking tea along with Digambar Kalita, Salim Haque Choudhury and Islamuddin Ahmed. The appellant Gobinda Das, an expelled member of the Union, arrived there and had some conversation with Dibambar Kalita. All of a sudden, the appellant slapped a mug of water on the person of Rajen Das and simultaneously, stabbed Raien Das with a dagger. Rajen Das ran out of the office to save himself but the accused followed him to the main road and caused multiple stab injuries on his person. On an alarm being raised by the informant and other onlookers, police from nearby police station came and apprehended the accused. The injured Raien Das was immediately shifted to MMC Hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital.

(Emphasis supplied)

(iv) As the finding of guilt, reached against the accused under Section 302IPC, was upheld by the Division Bench, the appeal was dismissed by the judgment and order, dated 12.02.1998, passed in Criminal Appeal No. 2(J)/98, and the conviction of the accused as well as the sentence passed against him were maintained, (v) While accused Gobinda Das was on bail, as indicated above, he came to be arrested in connection with another case, namely, Pan Bazar Police Station Case No. 141/96 under Section 302IPC. On being committed to the Co