SC rejects govt plea, upholds life term for Rajiv assassins
New Delhi:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
The Supreme Court has dismissed the Centre's curative plea seeking reexamination of the apex court's verdict commuting death sentence of three convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to life imprisonment.
Afive-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, held that there was no infirmity in commuting death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of 11-year delay on the government's part in deciding the mercy pleas of the convicts -Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan.
The curative petition was decided by the bench comprising three seniormost judges of the court including the CJI and two judges who were part of the bench which had commuted the death sentence. “We have gone through the curative petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra case.Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed,“ said the bench also comprising Justice T S Thakur, Justice A R Dave, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh. The apex court in February last year had commuted death sentence of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan after holding that the delay in deciding their mercy plea by the government was “inordinate and unreasonable“.
“Accordingly , the unreasonable delay caused qualifies as the supervening circumstance, which warrants for commutation of sentence of death into life imprisonment... Exorbitant delay in disposal of mercy petition renders the process of execution of death sentence arbitrary , whimsical and capricious and, therefore, inexecutable,“ the court had said.
After the apex court passed the judgment, the Tamil Nadu government had passed an order to release the convicts. The state government decision was, however, stayed by the Supreme Court after the Centre challenged jurisdiction of the state in pardoning them.
