All doors not yet shut, feel Rajiv assassins

VELLORE: Following media reports that the clemency petition of Rajiv killers, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, has been rejected by the President of India, representing the Government of India, the trio have started meeting their counsels to explore legal avenues to escape the gallows.

All the three who are presently lodged in the Vellore central prison appear to be hopeful that all the doors are not yet closed on them.

This was disclosed by two counsels P Pugalendhi and M Radhakrishan of Nalini Sriharan (wife of Murugan), another assassin of Rajiv, who is lodged at Puzhal jail in Chennai. The two counsels have met them for over two hours and the trio appeared to have expressed confidence that they could take up the legal course once again.

According to counsel Radhakrishnan, the inordinate delay of 11 years by the President of India to reject the mercy petition itself, could be a good ground for Rajiv killers to claim a lesser punishment, if they approached the court again. (incidentally, this is the longest period ever taken by the President’s office in dealing with a clemency petition)

Quoting a 1991 Supreme Court verdict, in the case of a death convict, Dhaya Singh, whose clemency petition was rejected by the President of India after a gap of two-years from death to life imprisonment, Radhakrishan said the trio had the options of seeking the same legal remedy either from the Supreme Court or the High Court.

Very recently, the Assam High court had also stayed the death sentence in a similar case, he added.

Elaborating on the options, the counsel said that the Government of India has been bestowed with powers under Sections 72, 161 of the Constitution to correct mistakes if any, done by the Supreme Court. When a convict facing death sentence approaches the Government of India through the President of India, the decision to uphold the death sentence especially after allowing the petitioner in prison over 20 years to suffer, had to be taken into account.

In the case of Rajiv killers, it is still debatable whether the delay of 11 years is legally valid or not, he opined.

“As their counsels, we have the responsibility to educate them on the legal options and protections available in this regard. But the decision to approach the court, how and when entirely rests on them,” he said, when asked about the the possibility of the three taking up a legal battle. So far, the order of rejection of the clemency petition from the President’s office had not reached the trio here, and when it does, “they are likely to explore the possibilities of proceeding further.”

“They have yet another option to file a clemency petition to the Government of India or the State of Tamil Nadu to reduce the sentence,” the counsel added.

However, it is too early to predict how they would respond to the situation, the counsel said.