NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION and Ors. [(Writ Petition No. 55/2015) (2014) 2 SCC (Cri) 1], whereby the death sentences had been commuted to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding the mercy petitions by the President of India. The period of delay in those cases was between 5 and 12 years. The complainant, therefore, requested intervention of the Commission to get the death sentences of the four convicts commuted to life imprisonment in the light of the above judgment of the Apex Court. 4.102 The Commission examined the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court not only in the case of Shatrughan Chauhan & anr Vs. Union of India & ors. [(Writ Petition No. 55/2015) (2014) 2 SCC (Crl.) 1] but also in the case of Ajay Kumar Pal vs. Union of India 2015 2 SCC (Crl) 2, whereby the death sentences had been commuted to life imprisonment on the ground of undue delay in deciding the mercy petitions by the President of India. 4.103 The Commission, vide its proceedings dated 22.08.2016, took the view that on the basis of the above two judgments, the four death row convicts who had submitted their mercy petitions more than 12 years ago had a strong case to get their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Accordingly, the Commission recommended to the Government of India to expedite and decide the mercy petitions in the light of the above two judgments of the Supreme Court. 4.104 The Ministry of Home affairs, Government of India informed the Commission that the President of India, in exercise of powers under Article 72 of the Constitution of India, commuted the death sentence of the aforesaid condemned prisoners to life imprisonment on 01.01.2017, with a condition that the prisoners shall remain in prison for the whole of remainder of their natural life and there shall be no further remission of the term of their imprisonment for life by any authority. The Ministry also informed that the decision of the President had been conveyed to the Government of Bihar. 4.105 In view of the fact that the mercy petitions have been disposed of by the President of India, the Commission did not find it necessary to keep the matter pending any longer and closed the matter accordingly. 20. Death of 36 Villagers of Nonke Khagrabari in District Baksa, Assam in a Massacre by Forest Officials in Collusion with the NDFB Cadres (Case No. 215/3/11/2014) 4.106 The Commission took suo-motu cognizance of a press report captioned “Assam violence: 6 forest dept men in custody after complaints by survivors”, appeared in the daily newspaper “Indian Express” dated 05.05.2014. According to the press report, a team of CID of Assam Police visited villages in Baksa District to carry out its investigation into the killings in Khagrabari ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 63