Special Correspondent Share · print · T+ A REPRIEVE: A crowd celebrating the Madras High Court stay on the execution of three convicts for eight weeks in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on the court campus on Tuesday. Photo: Special Arrangement
Senior advocates representing the three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case assailed the undue delay in the disposal of their mercy petitions and contended that this rendered the death penalty imposed on them illegal and unconstitutional. Ram Jethmalani, senior counsel, arguing for Murugan, submitted that every country in Europe was free from death penalty. However, India had not abolished capital punishment. He traced the facts starting from the assassination of the former Prime Minister on May 21, 1991 till the completion of the judicial process on May 11, 1999 (the day on which the Supreme Court delivered its verdict). The first clemency petition was dismissed by the Governor in 10 days. His second petition was also rejected. Later, a mercy plea was sent to the President in 2000. This was followed by reminders. After 11 years and four months, the petition was rejected. Citing various judgments, he said the delay in disposing of mercy petitions was a ground for commutation of sentence. Unless the delay was properly explained and justified, it rendered the death penalty illegal and unconstitutional. R. Vaigai, senior counsel, appearing for Santhan, submitted that delay in disposal of the mercy petition by 11 years made the execution of death sentence unconstitutional. Colin Gonsalves, counsel for Perarivalan, said as per Article 21, no person should be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. Taking 11 years for disposing of the mercy petition was not a procedure established by law. Anbumani, sister of Perarivalan, said she had faith in the judiciary. She was hopeful that her brother would ultimately be released from prison. The prisoner's father, Kuyilthasan, said various parties and people of different strata of society had come together for saving the three lives. Film director Manivannan was among those present in the court complex. Keywords: Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, mercy petitions, capital punishment, clemency, Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2414409.ece -- Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal +919820749204 skype-lawyercumactivist * * *The UID project i**s going to do almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.* * * *http://saynotoaadhaar.blogspot.com/* *http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/* *http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1*< http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
