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Rajiv Gandhi assassination Case: Tamil Party want center not to carry out proposed execution

August 29, 2011 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau

Tamil Nadu (August 29, 2011): Tamil Party Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) has favored clemency for 3 Tamil convicts facing immideate threat of execution on 9 September. Trio have been convicted for killing India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

As per media reports, after Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa expressed her inability to intervene in the execution of the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, AIADMK ally DMDK on Monday said the Central government should reconsider their clemency petitions and cancel the death sentence awarded to them.

“The assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is a crime. Key convicts in this case have died already. Since, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan have already spent 20 years in jail, the central government should reconsider their clemency petitions and save their lives,” the DMDK president Vijayakant is reported to have said in a statement by “The Hindu”.

The three convicts — Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan — are set to be hanged on September 9 after the President rejected their clemency petitions.

DMDK president has also referred to those countries that had already abolished capital punishment. “Same demand (for abolition of death penalty) has risen among Indians, hence the Central government should cancel the execution of the three convicts” he is reported to have said.

DMDK is an ally of the ruling AIADMK government and is the opposition party in the State Assembly with 29 MLAs.

Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss has criticised Tamil Nadu CM Ms. Jayalalithaa’s statement in the Assembly. “If she had a will, the lives of three persons can be saved” he is quoted to have said by “The Hindu”.

“While the whole state was waiting for the Chief Minister to save the three persons, Jayalalithaa has stepped aside from her responsibility saying she can’t intervene in the President’s decision,” Mr. Ramadoss is reported to have said in a statement.

On the other hand all the three convicts in this case have moved the Madras high court challenging the rejection of their clemency pleas by President Pratibha Patil on the basis of prolonged delay in deciding the review petition by the President of India.

“Advocate N Chandrasekaran appeared on behalf of the three men – Murugan alias Sriharan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu. He made a mention about the matter before Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar. The judge directed him to file a writ petition and said the matter would be taken up on Tuesday” a “TOI” report adds.

In his petition, Perarivalan – the only Indian citizen among the accused – sought for the President’s order to be set aside and for the death sentence to be commuted. While the petition for clemency was sent to the President on Apri 26, 2000, action was initiated on it only in August, 2011. He termed this “an unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional delay.” He said he had filed review petitions again before the President and the governor of Tamil Nadu on August 27.

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Related Topics: Death Penalty, Human Rights, Indian State, Tamil Struggle

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