NEW DELHI, Oct 3: The wife and mother of Mohammed Afzal Guru, condemned by a court to die on Oct 20 for his apparent role as facilitator in the attack on India’s parliament five years ago, pleaded with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday to spare his life.

It is now nearly certain that the execution will be deferred till President Kalam gets satisfactory legal opinion in the case. The Supreme Court says it considers capital punishment only in the rarest of rare cases, but human rights activists said Mr Guru was no more than a facilitator in the said conspiracy and as such he didn’t fit the category.

Moreover, he has not been identified as a member of any terrorist organisation listed by the government, including domestic and foreign groups.

The actual attackers were killed on the spot when they tried to invade the parliament building on Dec 13, 2001.

The Home Ministry has received a copy of the mercy plea from the president’s office for scrutiny of all the aspects of the case before it gives its opinion to President Kalam, who has to decide whether to grant him clemency.