The Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death penalty of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassins to life imprisonment. The death sentence has been commuted on grounds of delay in deciding their mercy plea.
The judgement was delivered by a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, which had reserved its verdict on the plea of three convicts - Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan - on February 4. The court has pronounced that the three will stay in the jail till the end of their life.
The bench cited 11-years delay on the part of the Centre in deciding their mercy plea. The court has rejected the Centre's contention that delay in deciding the mercy plea of convicts Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan did not result in agony.
"We implore government to render advice in reasonable time to the President for taking a decision on mercy pleas," the bench said. "We are confident that the mercy plea can be decided much faster than what is being done now," the bench observed.
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