Rajiv killing case: Keep politics out
The Madras high court granting an eight-week stay of execution to the three convicts on death row for helping to assassinate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi will leave many questioning it,
although it is evident that there is something quite seriously wrong with the system at present. The three — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan — were convicted by the Supreme Court in 1999. Their guilt cannot thus be a matter of conjecture, as many in Tamil Nadu are now trying to suggest. The three sought a presidential pardon after being sentenced. It is a sad commentary that it took Rashtrapati Bhavan close to 12 years to decide to confirm the death sentence and deny clemency. Since so much time has elapsed, the counsel for the convicts have pleaded that their clients had undergone deep “mental agony” and should be spared death. Their plea is that the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. If this is granted, we may be quite certain that the three will then seek discharge from prison on the grounds that they have already been in prison for 20 years since being committed, following the dastardly crime.
It is clear enough that Parliament should step in and lay down that the President must take a view on clemency pleas within a stipulated time so that there is no scope for absurdities to be entertained, as we are now witnessing in Tamil Nadu. Twelve years is long by any stretch of the imagination. In effect, the delay has been that of the Union home ministry, which has to advise Rashtrapati Bhavan on such matters. L.K. Advani, Shivraj Patil and P. Chidambaram, who have held that charge in this period, have some answering to do. We also do not know if Rashtrapati Bhavan made enquiries with the home ministry in this matter and in respect of other long-pending cases. The President cannot in such matters remain a passive recipient of advice.
It is a great pity that political elements in Tamil Nadu have summoned parochial and communal grounds to intervene in this discussion. It is this that has given rise to the political sentiment that parties like the DMK and MDMK are seeking to irresponsibly spread. By implication, such elements are suggesting that the Tamil people were being sought to be penalised for the crime of killing a former Prime Minister. The passage of the resolution in the state Assembly urging commuting of the Supreme Court verdict unfortunately invokes the same imagery. Under our law, individuals are charged with a crime, not their communities. If the matter is not allowed to rest on this premise, we will be opening a Pandora’s box.
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