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Gallows for four in Rajiv assassination

The Supreme Court of India today gave a fresh lease of life to 19 of the 26 accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, acquitting them of the conspiracy charge. The court also commuted the death sentence of three others to life imprisonment.

In a two-one majority verdict, the court, however, upheld the capital sentence awarded to four of the accused - Nalini, her husband Murugan, Santhan and Arivu - by a Madras special court.

The three whose death sentences were commuted are Jaikumar, Robert Payas and P Ravichandran.

The much-awaited judgment was delivered in the jam-packed courtroom 11 by a three-judge bench comprising Justice K T Thomas, Justice D P Wadhwa and Justice S S M Quadri, each pronouncing a separate verdict with the last two constituting the majority view.

The former prime minister was killed by a human bomb at a public meeting at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991, during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

The judges upheld the conviction of only seven of the 26 accused on the charge of conspiracy to murder Rajiv Gandhi under section 120(b) read with section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

The court set aside their conviction under various provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, which has been repealed.

Though 19 accused were acquitted of the charges of conspiracy to murder, the Supreme Court upheld their conviction by the trial court for minor offences.

It, however, directed their release forthwith since they had already served the jail term awarded for such offences.

In their separate judgments running into 664 pages, the judges described the murder as a "diabolical" act that snatched away a national leader in the prime of his youth.

Justice Thomas put all the accused in the case into four categories -- those who formed the hard core, those who induced others in the conspiracy and played an active role, those who joined the conspiracy, and those who played a passive role.

He said all the accused belonging to the first category, including Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, were never brought to trial because they were either dead or absconding.

"The seven accused whose conviction is upheld belong to the second category," Justice Thomas said.

According to the prosecution, the LTTE was irked by the Indo-Sri Lanka peace accord which recognised the island nation as a sovereign nation, ignoring its demand for a separate Tamil Eelam, and the deployment of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force to enforce the accord.

The LTTE was convinced that Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for both the accord and the IPKF and accordingly planned and executed his murder.

Commuting Nalini's death sentence into a life term, Justice Thomas observed, "Nalini was an educated lady. She was an obedient participant in the conspiracy, but did not play any dominant role. She was indoctrinated and brainwashed by Murugan about the IPKF's excesses in Sri Lanka and made to believe that rapes and mass killings of LTTE cadres were committed.

"She has confided in her brother that she only realised the gravity of the conspiracy at Sriperumbudur. When the father [Murugan] is already sent to the gallows, if the mother is also given the death sentence, the little child will be orphaned."

He said, "Justice knows no father or mother. But taking all the facts into consideration, I feel that the child should be saved from being orphaned."

Justice Wadhwa termed the murder a "diabolical crime" in which 18 persons, including nine police personnel, died and 43 sustained serious injuries.

Upholding the death sentence awarded to Nalini, he said she was mentally prepared by Dhanu, Sivarasan, Murugan and Subha and she voluntarily participated in the dry run at V P Singh's function held a few days earlier.

Justice Quadri said "Nalini knew of the dangerous mission, but still closely associated herself with it. Her participation was not as a result of her helplessness, but of a free desire".

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