(August 29, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday ruled out playing any role in stopping the death sentence of the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.
Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, three LTTE cadres convicted in Rajiv's murder, are scheduled to be hanged on September 9. Rajiv was killed by an LTTE suicide squad at Sriperumbudur, about 50 km from Chennai, on May 21, 1991.
Jayalalithaa's statement in the assembly that she has no powers to stop the death sentence after President Pratibha Patil had rejected their plea for mercy, came in the wake of calls made by various political parties, including the DMK, her erstwhile ally MDMK and several rights organizations to her to save the lives of the three condemned prisoners now lodged in Vellore central prison. Haritha, the 19-year-old daughter of Murugan and Nalini, another person involved in the case whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, has also appealed to Jayalalithaa and Sonia Gandhi to save her father's life.
Jayalalithaa sought to clarify that only the President of India has the powers to give clemency to a murder accused. The chief minister of a state does not have such powers, she clarified.
She also recalled a DMK cabinet decision taken in 2000, which advised the governor against considering Nalini's clemency.
"Now he (DMK president M Karunanidhi) is demanding to save them which is nothing but double standards," she charged.
Jayalalithaa also urged other political leaders not to create an impression that she had the powers to revoke the presidential order rejecting the clemency petition.
Source: Times Of India
Source: Times Of India
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