Chennai: The three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have moved the Madras high court challenging the rejection of their clemency pleas by President Pratibha Patil.
Advocate N Chandrasekaran appeared on behalf of the three men – Murugan alias Sriharan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu. He made a mention about the matter before Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar. The judge directed him to file a writ petition and said the matter would be taken up on Tuesday.
In his petition, Perarivalan – the only Indian citizen among the accused – sought for the President’s order to be set aside and for the death sentence to be commuted. While the mercy petition was sent to the President on Apri 26, 2000, action was initiated on it only in August, 2011. He termed this “an unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional delay.” He said he had filed mercy petitions again before the President and the governor of Tamil Nadu on August 27.
The petition added that the President had failed to consider certain parameters while deciding on the mercy plea. He had been roped into this case under section 120B of the IPC and was associated with Sivarasan but was not directly involved in the assassination.
The Supreme Court had, in the case of Vijayan and Suseentharan, held that mere association should not be considered as a vital role played in the plot. The above ratio was not applied to him. The mercy petition was not placed before the council of ministers but only before the home ministry.
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