By IANS,
Chennai: The Madras High Court Friday adjourned till Nov 29 the hearing on the petitions by the three men convicted for assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination to commute their death sentences even as the central government contended that the trio be hanged.
Murugan alias Sriharan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu had filed their plea to commute their death sentences. The case came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices C. Nagappan and M. Satyanarayanan.
On Aug 30, the court stayed the Sep 9 hanging of the three convicts, adjourned the hearing for eight weeks and issued notice to the central and state governments.
President Pratibha Patil Aug 11 rejected the mercy petitions of the three who are linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and sentenced to death for their involvement in Gandhi’s May 21, 1991 assassination.
The central government contended in the high court that the three convicts should be hanged as the president had rejected their clemency petitions.
It contended that once the clemency petition is rejected by the president the proper course is to execute the sentence.
A petition for transfer of the case to the Supreme Court is pending with the latter.
Gandhi, who was the prime minister 1984-89, was killed by suicide bomber Dhanu at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near here. Fourteen others also lost their lives in the blast.
The Tamil Nadu assembly Aug 30 moved a resolution asking the president to review her decision rejecting the three mens’ mercy plea and commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.