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Constitution of India · Part V: The Union · The President and Vice-President

Article 72: Power of President to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases

In plain words

The President can grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, or suspend, remit or commute sentences, in cases tried by court martial, in offences against laws on Union subjects, and in all death sentence cases.

  • This does not affect the powers of armed forces officers over court-martial sentences, or a Governor's power to suspend, remit or commute death sentences under State law.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

(1) The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence—

(a) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;

(b) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;

(c) in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

(2) Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the power conferred by law on any officer of the Armed Forces of the Union to suspend, remit or commute a sentence passed by a Court Martial.

(3) Nothing in sub-clause (c) of clause (1) shall affect the power to suspend, remit or commute a sentence of death exercisable by the Governor *** of a State under any law for the time being in force.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this article

Article 72 gives the President power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences, in cases of court martial, offences against Union law, and all death sentences. It is a constitutional power of mercy, exercised on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.

The forms of clemency

  • Pardon: wipes out the conviction and sentence.
  • Commutation: substitutes a lighter form of punishment.
  • Remission: reduces the period of sentence without changing its character.
  • Respite: a lesser sentence for special reasons, such as pregnancy.
  • Reprieve: temporary suspension, typically of a death sentence.

Nature of the power

The power is not judicial. The President may examine the record and reach a different conclusion on guilt or sentence, without altering the judicial record. It is exercised on ministerial advice.

Limited judicial review

Courts can review the decision on limited grounds: that it was made without application of mind, on irrelevant or extraneous considerations, mala fide, arbitrarily, or without the advice of the Council of Ministers. Courts do not examine the merits. Unexplained delay in deciding mercy petitions can itself be a ground for commutation.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Kehar Singh v. Union of India (1989) 1 SCC 204

    The President may scrutinise the evidence and come to a different conclusion on guilt and sentence; in doing so he does not amend or supersede the judicial record, acting on a wholly different plane from the court; the exercise is subject to limited judicial review.

  • Epuru Sudhakar v. Govt. of A.P. 2006 INSC 695

    Limited judicial review of the pardon power is available; a remission based on irrelevant and extraneous material, with relevant facts not disclosed, was set aside.

Common mistakes

  • Treating the pardon power as a judicial appeal.
  • Assuming the President acts in personal discretion.

Read with: Article 161 Constitution, Article 74 Constitution

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 72