The Union Home Ministry has communicated to the Tamil Nadu government the rejection of the clemency petitions of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, convicts given the death penalty in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, by President Pratibha Patil, thereby paving the way for their execution, highly placed police sources said on Thursday night.
Hours after the message was received, jail authorities began preparing for the execution. Steps have been taken to deploy commandos in the Vellore Central Prison, where the three condemned prisoners are lodged.
Parrying questions on the probable date of execution, a prison official said the usual norm was to hang condemned prisoners within seven days of the notification, in this case commencing on Friday.
While Perarivalan is an Indian national, Murugan and Santhan are Sri Lankans. After the news of the President's rejection of the mercy petitions spread in the second week of August, a few political parties and organisations held demonstrations seeking remission of the punishment as the three had already spent about 20 years in prison.
The former Central Bureau of Investigation Director D.R. Kaarthikeyan, who led the Special Investigation Team that probed the May 21, 1991 assassination, told The Hindu that he had nothing personal against the three convicts. “I was persuaded to take up investigation in the case … we went from the crime to the criminal based on evidence. I had a personal regard for Rajiv Gandhi and I thought it was my duty to investigate.”
Mr. Kaarthikeyan said half of the countries in the world had abolished the death penalty. “But for incidents like the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, India would also have considered abolishing capital punishment. I hope one day the death penalty will not exist.”
PUCL plea
People's Union for Civil Liberties national secretary Suresh, who had submitted a petition to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, said his organisation wanted her to use the State government's executive power to commute the sentence.
The PUCL as a policy viewed “the death penalty and the imposition of the death penalty as arbitrary capricious, unfair and cruel.”
Mr. Suresh said, “The government should grant an executive stay of the execution pending final decision on the PUCL petition, which has raised substantive legal grounds supporting commutation.”
The campaign committee for commuting the death sentence had already given a call for a human chain protest across the State for Friday. Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P. Nedumaran, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan are likely to meet here on Friday to chalk out the next course of action.
The death sentence of Nalini, wife of Murugan, was commuted to life imprisonment.
Keywords: Rajiv Gandhi assassination, mercy petition, LTTE, death penalty
What about Afzal Guru and Kasab? Shall their death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment?
After languishing in jail for more than 20 years I feel it is very much inhumane to execute the three convicts.Also their direct involvement in the assassination is still lacking clear evidence. We can hope that the efforts put in by human right activists, judicial experts, and other prominent personalities, will be able to stop this inhuman and degrading punishment.
Those who have destroyed a (young) life mercilessly deserve no clemency of any sort. The due judicial process has condemned them and they should suffer the consequences of their criminal act.
These three men have already served 20 years in prison and that is an adequate punishment for involment (ie if they are involved)for the attempt to kill Rajiv Ghandhi. In other democratic countries if a crimminal has served a prison sentence of 20 years he/she is released. Being a democratic country India should follow this practice and release these three men.
A period of life sentence had undergone by the persons who were sentenced to death. virtually it became double sentence, Life and death delay in President's office caused life sentence. A person is receiving sentence from Judiciary and Executive.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 2011 and two decades have alraedy passed. The Three convicts have already spent 20 years in jail. No doubt, the crime is heinous and the guilty needs to be severely punished. These convicts must have crossed 50 years of age. While there is campaign all over the world to do away with Death Penalty, in rarest of rare cases, death penalty is awarded. The benefit delay of 20 years should go in favour of the guilty, at least in commuting the death penalty to life imprisonment.
Death penalty is cruel and inhuman, but the activists who supports this even think the consequence of crime the culprit commits. There are two type of people in this world. one who follow the system and law others who do not. For the latter the fear in mind is necessarry. Death penalty is one of such. I am ashamed this took 20 YEARS for Indian courts and political sytem to decide the fate of these culprits. Had it been in Europe or America...it had been death aniiversery of these culprits.
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