By IANS,
New Delhi : The resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly asking President Pratibha Patil to review the mercy petitions of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers was not binding, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said Tuesday.
“The state government resolution is not binding on anyone,” Khurshid told reporters outside parliament house here.
He was referring to the unanimous resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly urging the president to review the mercy pleas of Murugan alias Sriharan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu and also to commute their death sentence to life imprisonment.
The resolution coincided with the Madras High Court staying for eight weeks the hanging of the three men, all linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and sentenced for their involvement in Gandhi’s 1991 assassination.
The execution was to take place on Sep 9.
Khurshid said he cannot interfere with the court decision.
“I cannot interfere with any high court decision. I am only here cognizant of what the decision of the president was. That is all I know,” he said.
“High courts and the Supreme Court can take their own view. I cannot comment on any view they have taken particularly till the view becomes final. It is an interim order which they have passed and I am sure the government will respond to it,” Khurshid added.
On Aug 11, President Patil had rejected the mercy petition of the three accused.
A woman suicide bomber Dhanu blew herself up killing Gandhi, who was prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21, 1991.