Chennai: Families of the victims who were killed along with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 in Sriperumbudur are on a day's hunger strike in Chennai today. They are demanding that the three convicts on death row in the assassination case be hanged soonest. The 15 victims' families are also being supported by Congress workers.
The three convicts - Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan - were scheduled to be hanged on September 9. But last week, the Madras High Court suspended their execution by eight weeks. Their mercy petitions, filed 11 years ago asking for their sentence to be commuted to life in prison, have been rejected by President Pratibha Patil.
The convicts say the President's office showed "an inordinate and inexplainable delay" in deciding their mercy petitions and so it violates Article 21 of the Constitution (Protection of life and personal liberty).
The Tamil Nadu Assembly has adopted a unanimous resolution urging President Patil to reconsider the mercy petitions. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
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