New Delhi:Â The apex court on Monday commuted the death sentence of three assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to life in prison and left it to the Tamil Nadu government to decide whether to release them by granting remission.
The convicts, Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, had petitioned against their death sentence, arguing there had been an exceptional delay in a decision on their mercy plea.
Despite the Centre’s view that the convicts did not deserve it, a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, P Sathasivam granted them mercy
On January 21, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of 15 convicts, announcing “inordinate and inexplicable” delays in carrying out executions were grounds for reducing their original punishment.
The three men were convicted in 1998 for Mr Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. The family of one of the convicts, Perarivalan, said by keeping him in jail for 23 years, the government had already killed them.
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