New Delhi: The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on a plea by the three assassins of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi seeking commutation of their death sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of an inordinate delay of nearly 11 years in deciding their mercy petitions. The centre has opposed the plea.
Responding to the plea by three assassins - V. Sriharan @ Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan - the government urged the court to reject them, saying that they suffered no agony or dehumanization during the 11 years when their mercy petitions were pending with the president.
Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told an apex court bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh that the petition was not covered by its Jan 21 verdic that said that inordinate, unexplained, unreasonable delay was a ground for commuting death sentence into life imprisonment.
Vahanvati told the court that all through these 11 years, the three assassins were living a full life by holding music shows, art exhibitions and other recreational activities in the jail.
"This shows they were not hardened criminals," observed Chief Justice Sathasivam.
Having pointed out that they suffered on agony, torture or dehumanizing situation, Vahanvati wondered: "Do they require the intervention of this court (SC) on the grounds of torture and dehumanised life."
