New Delhi: The Centre today opposed the plea of 3 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment in the Supreme Court saying that they should not be shown any mercy, reports said.
The three men – Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan have argued that an exceptional delay in deciding their petition for clemency merits by the President a reduction of their penalty.
The apex court reserved its order on plea of death convicts in the killing of the former prime minister. The Centre said the SC that the death convicts did not go through torture, agony and dehumanizing experience during pendency of mercy pleas.
There has been delay in deciding the mercy plea but the delay is not unreasonable, unexplainable and unconscionable to commute death sentence, the Centre’s counsel said.
It is not a fit case for commuting death sentence, the counsel argued.
Their petition came days after the apex court ruled that inordinate delay in deciding mercy pleas and mental illness are grounds to commute death penalties giving relief to 15 convicts as well as to death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar.
Bureau Report
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