“This is a victory for the campaign against the death penalty. I am happy that justice has finally been done. I hope this judgment will save my son’s life,” said Arputhammal, mother of Perarivalan on death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Welcoming the verdict, she said her son’s prayer challenging the inordinate delay in the President deciding on the mercy petition would come up for hearing on January 29.
“This verdict has given me the hope that after 23 years of incarceration my son will get relief. Though the judgment is clear and vindicates our argument, the fact that the case involves the death of a former Prime Minister keeps us on tenterhooks,” she said.
It was just not the convicts who suffered mental agony for years but their family members as well. “For many years, my son lived in constant fear of being executed. After having gone through so much of stress, how can a man be executed…” she asked.
Published - January 22, 2014 02:29 am IST
