I do not want to go into the merits of the order of the Chennai High Court granting an interim injunction staying the execution of the three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
However, to get some clarity on the whole matter, we have to first understand whether the present agitation by the Tamil activists is for the abolition of death penalty altogether or only to stop the execution of the three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi case. If it is the former, it calls for a nationwide discussion by legal luminaries at the national level and a comprehensive amendment to criminal jurisprudence.
If the agitation is against the execution of the three persons convicted in the instance case, it has to be clearly understood that not only the judiciary at various levels has examined the case in great detail and come to the conclusion that this is one of the rarest of rare cases warranting the extreme penalty. Various clemency petitions have been examined in great detail and found to be devoid of any merit.The case for stopping the execution of the three persons mainly hangs on the 11-year delay in taking a decision on the mercy petition filed before the President.While this inordinate delay in deciding on the petition is inexplicable and indeed deplorable, this alone cannot be the reason for stopping the hanging of the accused in the present case.If this
argument is to be accepted, it will open a Pandora's Box and a plethora of demands for stopping the execution of all the others with similar penalties including terrorists like Afzal Guru will follow. At the same time, it has to be examined why the decision on the petition was delayed for such a length of time and what steps are being taken to avoid such delays in future.
However, to get some clarity on the whole matter, we have to first understand whether the present agitation by the Tamil activists is for the abolition of death penalty altogether or only to stop the execution of the three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi case. If it is the former, it calls for a nationwide discussion by legal luminaries at the national level and a comprehensive amendment to criminal jurisprudence.
If the agitation is against the execution of the three persons convicted in the instance case, it has to be clearly understood that not only the judiciary at various levels has examined the case in great detail and come to the conclusion that this is one of the rarest of rare cases warranting the extreme penalty. Various clemency petitions have been examined in great detail and found to be devoid of any merit.The case for stopping the execution of the three persons mainly hangs on the 11-year delay in taking a decision on the mercy petition filed before the President.While this inordinate delay in deciding on the petition is inexplicable and indeed deplorable, this alone cannot be the reason for stopping the hanging of the accused in the present case.If this
argument is to be accepted, it will open a Pandora's Box and a plethora of demands for stopping the execution of all the others with similar penalties including terrorists like Afzal Guru will follow. At the same time, it has to be examined why the decision on the petition was delayed for such a length of time and what steps are being taken to avoid such delays in future.
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