Supreme Court commutes death sentence awarded to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins; Ram Jethmalani, AG Vahanvati and ASG Luthra appear [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court today commuted to life sentence, the death sentence awarded to three individuals convicted of murdering Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. The Court has also implored upon the government to render its advice to the President within a reasonable time so that he can dispose off mercy petitions expeditiously..The judgment was delivered by a 3 judge Bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh in a plea by three convicts Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan (Petitioners)..Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani appeared for Murugan while Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhary represented Santhan and Perarivalan. Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati and Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra represented the Union government..The Petitioners were convicted in 1998 for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Their mercy petition was sent to the President of India in 2000 and was rejected after 11 years. The Madras High Court had, however, stayed their hanging in 2011..Vahanvati had vehemently opposed their plea arguing that there was “not a word of remorse” in the convicts’ petition for mercy and that “they were enjoying life, attending music concerts and were not in any sort of agony.”.Advocates for the Petitioners had argued that agony did not mean physical torture and any inexplicable delay would suffice to bracket the case within the contours of the earlier judgment by the Supreme Court. Upholding this contention, the Supreme Court said that there was no requirement in law to demonstrate ill effects of imprisonment or agony in prison. The Court also held that inordinate, undue delay would be a ground for commutation..Earlier in a batch of petitions filed by 15 death row convicts, the Supreme Court had held that unexplained and inordinate delay in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts will be a valid ground for commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment. In the process the Court had declared its own judgment in Devender Pal Bhullar as per incuriam and had granted relief to the 15 petitioners including 4 aides of Veerappan..Subsequently, Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins had also approached the Supreme Court seeking commutation of their death penalty..Image taken from here..V Sriharan @ Murugan v. Union of India & Ors.