1.3.14

Don’t free Rajiv killers: SC

A week after stopping the release of three convicts immediately after their death penalties were commuted to life terms in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Supreme Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government not to free four other life convicts in the same case.
On the Centre’s writ petition, a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana issued notice to the Jayalalithaa government and the four convicts – Nalini, Robert Pious, Jaya Kumar and Ravichandran – while asking the state to maintain status quo. The court on Feb 20 had stopped TN proposal to set free these four along with three other convicts Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan after the apex court commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment on the ground that 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas had breached their right to life as death row prisoners.
The Tamil Nadu government, true to its word, contested both maintainability and merit of the Centre’s writ petition. “They (the Centre) want the court to quash the letter the Tamil Nadu government had written to the Centre as part of consultation process.... After the Feb 20 order directing status quo on the release of the three convicts, the state has not taken any step to precipitate the matter. Why then this rush,” said senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi who appeared for TN.
Before the Centre, represented through solicitor general Mohan Parasaran and additional solicitor general Sidharth Luthra, could think of an answer to the poser, the bench said, “Who is rushing, you (Tamil Nadu) or the Centre? We have been repeatedly reminding states to follow the procedure prescribed under Sections 432 and 433 of the Criminal Procedure Code before commuting the sentence of a convict. After the convict makes an application for commutation of sentence, the concerned trial court’s opinion has to be obtained and then the state could take an informed decision.”
However, the court assured Dwivedi that it would consider his preliminary challenge to the Centre’s petition on the ground of maintainability when it takes up all the petitions for hearing on March 6.

Tension prevailed in several parts of Chennai after three busts of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were found vandalised, triggering protests. The incident comes a day after some pro-Eelam outfits attacked the Congress state unit HQ in the city over the party’s opposition to the release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts. As the news spread, Congress cadres took blocked traffic at many places.

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