A year ago 22 Muslims were killed and thousands were booked under draconian charges while being brutally tortured in police custody in 2019 during the brutal crackdown by UP police against ANTI-CAA protestors.
Sharing a crux of our fact finding report in UP last year
Among the arrested and now released,we met Ravi & Ekta Shekhar, climate change activists who were parents of a breast-fed infant child,2/3
S.R. Darapuri (former IAS officer ), @sadafjafar(Social activist ), Advocate Mohammad Shoaib (Lawyer) 3/1
Dipak Kabir who just went to see sadaf jafar in Police station was arrested by Police & was repeatedly called “ Urban Naxal “&brutally beaten up in the PS .3/3
Out of the 20 charges in various FIRs registered in Mau,some of them included charges of attempt to murder on injured protesters itself 4/2
More from Crime
This is terrible weighing of the costs and benefits of the pardon power. I think Senator Murphy woefully undervalues its utility. /1
In part because the Congress of which he is a part has established no functioning second-look mechanisms for shortening sentences or expunging convictions, commutations and pardons are the only mechanisms for correcting injustices in the federal system. /2
And it's not as if those injustices are rare. Go to any federal correctional facility, and take time to learn who is there and about their cases, and you find literally thousands of people whose sentences were grossly excessive given their offenses. /3
Those people need commutations as a corrective because there is no parole or other second look in place to address that. Some have tried to use compassionate release under the First Step Act, but DOJ tries to block those efforts at every turn and it's a limited option. /4
Presidential commutations are thus the only avenue for these folks. And under President Obama, more than 1,700 regular people (not his cronies) received relief. It was woefully inadequate for the need, but it shows the value of the power. /5
Once one party allows the pardon power to become a tool of criminal enterprise, its danger to democracy outweighs its utility as an instrument of justice.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 24, 2020
It\u2019s time to remove the pardon power from the Constitution.
In part because the Congress of which he is a part has established no functioning second-look mechanisms for shortening sentences or expunging convictions, commutations and pardons are the only mechanisms for correcting injustices in the federal system. /2
And it's not as if those injustices are rare. Go to any federal correctional facility, and take time to learn who is there and about their cases, and you find literally thousands of people whose sentences were grossly excessive given their offenses. /3
Those people need commutations as a corrective because there is no parole or other second look in place to address that. Some have tried to use compassionate release under the First Step Act, but DOJ tries to block those efforts at every turn and it's a limited option. /4
Presidential commutations are thus the only avenue for these folks. And under President Obama, more than 1,700 regular people (not his cronies) received relief. It was woefully inadequate for the need, but it shows the value of the power. /5
