Gallows for four, lifer for 3, rest freed
in Rajiv assassination case
Suhasini Haidar in New Delhi
The Supreme Court today confirmed the death sentences of four of the 26 accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and commuted the death sentences of three others to life imprisonment. Of the remaining 19, two were acquitted and 17 sentenced to time already served in prison.
The court's verdict came on appeals filed by all the accused, who were sentenced in January last year to capital punishment by the specially designated TADA court in Madras.
In today's decision, the three-judge bench comprising Justice K T Thomas, Justice D P Wadhwa and Justice S S M Quadri is seen to have struck down the TADA court's sentencing to a large extent.
The bench said the provisions of the now-defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, specifically section 3(1) of the Act, charging all 26 accused with "waging war against the nation", were inapplicable in the case.
"Every criminal offence, even if it is murder, cannot amount to waging war under TADA," explained senior counsel and defence lawyer Siva Subramanian. "We are extremely satisfied with the court's verdict."
The four members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam whose death sentences have been confirmed and who were found to have had direct knowledge of the conspiracy to murder the former prime minister are Santhan, Arivu, Nalini and her husband Murugan.
The court held that as they were the "prime movers" of the plot, their sentences would be upheld. Three others, Jai Kumar, Robert Pias and Ravi Chandran, were awarded life imprisonment.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a "human bomb" of the LTTE at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.
According to LTTE statements issued at the time (later denied), the killing was executed in response to Gandhi's action as Indian prime minister in sending the Indian Peace-Keeping Force to Sri Lanka in 1987 to help the Sri Lankan government in its operations against the Tamil extremist organisation.
At the time of the assassination, Gandhi was campaigning for the election to the tenth Lok Sabha. The attack on him by suicide bomber Dhanu, who detonated explosives wrapped around her body, left 18 others dead and 43 critically injured.
The only dissension within the bench today arose over the sentencing of Nalini. Justice Thomas recommended commuting her death sentence to a life term, but was overruled by his brother judges.
Nalini, the only surviving member of the five-member assassination squad, was one of the substitute "suicide bombers" on the team. She delivered a baby girl while in custody.
Citing this as a reason for commuting her sentence, Justice Thomas said Nalini could be spared as she had been brainwashed by her husband Murugan with whom she was infatuated, and even if she had wished to leave the LTTE at any stage, she would have been too scared of the consequences. Moreover, he said, putting her to death would orphan her child since the father has also been sentenced to death.
But Justices Wadhwa and Quadri said that all the four whose death sentences were upheld were fully aware of the conspiracy and were involved in its planning and did not deserve any leniency.
They were all charged and convicted under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code read with section 120B (conspiracy to murder).
Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmad, counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation, expressed satisfaction with the judgement. He explained that the judges were restricted by the "paucity of evidence" in the case. "After all, the CBI evidence was based largely on the confessional statements of the accused. In any case like this, corroborative evidence is very hard to get."
But Ahmad did express some disappointment with the striking down of the TADA cases. He felt that in this case, the conspiracy to murder Rajiv Gandhi had obviously been hatched to alter the country's political leadership and to compel the Government of India to not pursue its earlier policies vis-a-vis Sri Lanka and the LTTE. "And that should amount to section 3(1) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act," he said.
The four who have been sentenced to death now have recourse only to a review petition in the Supreme Court, failing which they can appeal to the President of India for clemency. If that too fails, Nalini will be only the second woman since Independence to be sent to the gallows in India.
In related news, at the daily Congress party briefing, spokesman Pranab Mukherjee refused to comment on the judgement, saying that it would not be proper to comment on a verdict of the courts.
UNI report: Supreme Court frees 19 in Rajiv assassination
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