Three men facing the gallows for the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi got a reprieve 10 days before they were to be hanged with the Madras high court on Tuesday issuing an interim stay on their execution for eight weeks.
Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, now in Vellore Jail, were to be executed September 9.
After hearing arguments from senior counsel Ram Jethmalani (representing Murugan), R. Vaigai (counsel for Santhan) and Colin Gonsalves (representing Perarivalan), a division bench of Justices C. Nagappan and M. Sathyanarayanan granted the interim injunction and ordered notices, returnable in eight weeks, to be issued to the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government.
The order said: “The main contention raised is the delay of 11 years and four months in disposal of the mercy petitions submitted by the petitioners seeking commutation of the death sentences imposed on them ... Since the matter involves consideration of questions of law, the petitions are admitted and there shall be an order of interim injunction.”
Mr Jethmalani said unless the delay in disposing of the mercy petitions was properly explained or justified, it made the death penalty illegal and unconstitutional.
Mr Jethmalani also cited various Supreme Court and high court rulings supporting his claim. Ms Vaigai and Mr Gonsalves also raised the delay issue.
A little before the court order, the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday adopted an unanimous resolution moved by chief minister Jayala-lithaa urging President Pratibha Patil to reconsider the mercy petitions she had rejected earlier this month. Ms Jaya-lalithaa’s move came a day after she made it clear that she had no powers to grant them pardon.
In New Delhi, the Congress Party refused to be drawn into the debate, with party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi saying it was a “purely constitutional, legal and administrative process” and that “the Congress has no role in it”.