P. Sathasivam NEW DELHI - In a major relief to three condemned prisoners in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Supreme Court on Feb 18 commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of 11 years delay in deciding their mercy plea by the Center. A Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam rejected the Center’s submission that there was no unreasonable delay in deciding their mercy plea and the condemned prisoners...
did not go through agonising experience as they were enjoying life behind the bars. The Bench also said they are unable to accept the Center’s view and commuted the death sentence of convicts—Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan—to imprisonment for life subject to remission by the government. It asked the Center to give timely advice to the President so that mercy petitions can be decided without unreasonable delay. It said the government should handle the cases of mercy petitions in a more systematized manner. “We are confident that mercy plea can be decided at much faster speed than what is being done now,” the Bench said. Rajiv Gandhi was killed in May 1991. His assassins were convicted by a TADA court in January 1998 and were awarded death sentence, which was confirmed by the apex court on May 11, 1999. (PTI)
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