Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday drew the
attention of Madras High Court to the August 30 resolution of
the state assembly, urging the President to reconsider the
mercy petitions of the three accused in the Rajiv Gandhi`s
assassination case and commute their death sentence to life.
In his counter affidavit, home secretary Rameshram Misra
said his earlier affidavit was `misread` by a section of the
media and he had sought the court`s permission to file the
additional affidavit to `dispel the doubts.`
"In deference to sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu
and views of political parties over the issue, the Tamil Nadu
assembly strongly urges the President to reconsider the mercy
petitions of Santhan, Sriharan alias Murugan and Perarivalan
and commute their death sentences to life imprisonment`, he
said quoting the resolution.
However, the state maintained its stand that the petitions
be dismissed.
Earlier, when the matter came up before a division bench
comprising Justices C Nagappan and M Sathyanarayanan,
Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran said Supreme Court
had sought details of all pending mercy petitions before the
President and Governors of states concerned.
MDMK leader Vaiko pointed out that the application seeking
transfer of three petitions pending before the High Court to
the Supreme Court was due to be heard on January 31, 2012.
Following this, the bench adjourned the petitions to
January 31 for further hearing.
On October 28, the Madras High Court had adjourned to
November 29, the hearing on the convicts` petitions.
On August 30, the court had stayed for eight weeks the
execution of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan admitting their
pleas for commuting their death sentence to life term. Their
execution was scheduled on September 9, after President
Pratibha Patil turned down their mercy pleas.
The Supreme Court had also issued notices to the Centre,
state government and the three convicts on a plea for
transferring the case out of Madras High Court on September
15.
PTI
