In a major relief to three condemned prisoners in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Supreme Court today commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding their mercy plea by the Centre.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam rejected the Centre's submission that there was no unreasonable delay in deciding their mercy plea and the condemned prisoners did not go through agonising experience as they were enjoying life behind the bars.
The bench, also comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and S K Singh, said it was unable to accept the Centre's view and commuted the death sentence of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan to imprisonment for life subject to remission by the government.
Observing that it is "definitely not a pleasure" for this court to interfere in the constitutional power vested with the President and Governors under Article 72/161 to commute sentence, the bench asked the government to render its advice to the President within a reasonable time so that decision can be taken at the earliest.
"We are confident that the mercy petitions filed under Article 72/161 can be disposed of at a much faster pace than what is adopted now, if the due procedure prescribed by law is followed in verbatim. The fact that no time limit is prescribed to the President/Governor for disposal of the mercy petition should compel the government to work in a more systematised manner to repose the confidence of the people in the institution of democracy," it said.
It said the executive should step up and exercise its time-honored tradition of clemency power guaranteed in the Constitution one way or the other within a reasonable time as it provides a ray of hope to the condemned prisoners and their family members.
All the death convicts are currently lodged in the Central Prison, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu and they are in incarceration since 1991.
Gandhi was killed in May 1991. His assassins were convicted by a TADA court in January 1998 and were awarded death sentence, which was confirmed by the apex court May 11, 1999.
