Justice has prevailed: Arivu mother

Chennai: Stall No: 273 was one of the smallest and perhaps least inhabited at Chennai book fair till yesterday. But on Tuesday, it was the most crowded, not just because of the titles on sale there but the person who sold them.

Shortly after organizers removed the barricades at the stroke of 2pm, crowd rushed and swelled in front of stall 273 to see a beaming Arputhammal, the 60 plus unrelenting mother of Rajiv case convict Perar­iva­lan, who celebrated the SC verdict striking down the death penalty awarded to 15 people across the cou­ntry.

A jubilant Arputhammal took sweets from Selvaraj Murugaiyan of People’s Movement Against Death Penalty (PMADP) and offered it to waiting media persons. Heaping praise on the Chief Justice of India, Arputhammal who visited the four Veerappan associates in Karnataka prisons in October last told DC, “Justice has prevailed. Hats off to the Supreme Court.”

“I w­as so restless and he­n­ce I left the stall ea­rl­y Mo­nd­ay evening. I kept thinking late in to the night about the outcome of this case, which could pave way for Arivu’s release. I took a couple of sleeping pills. I breathed easy after the good news reached this morning,” a virtually relieved Arputhammal add­ed recalling how she cou­ld not feel the world around her when Septem­ber 9, 2011 was set as date of execution for her son.

“I am relieved. I am very happy. This is just the beginning,” she said wondering what would have happened if the four (Ve­erap­pan associates) wer­e hanged then?

“Death penalty should be removed from the statute book. It should not exist in a country like India,” she said exuding confidence that the recent revelation by former CBI SP Thiy­agar­ajan would be sufficie­nt to prove Arivu’s innocence and subsequently set him free.

BJP, MDMK, PMK laud apex court judgment

Chennai: Several parties have lauded the Supreme Court judgement commuting the death sentence of 15 death row convicts, citing delay, and have called for measures like enacting legislation stipulating a time-bound mechanism for the government to dispose of the mercy petitions.

Describing the Supreme Court ruling as “panacea” and “opening the way” for abolishing the death sentence in India, he said the case relating to Rajiv Gandhi would come up for hearing in the apex court on January 29.

“We hope that the death penalty of three convicts in the Rajiv case will be commuted on the basis of this judgment,” Vaiko said.

The state unit of the BJP has asked the Supreme Court to fix a deadline for accepting or rejecting mercy petitions and said if need arises it could direct the government to enact a law.

“The judiciary should take a clear decision. If needed, a law could be enacted to dispose of mercy petitions rather than cause undue delay,” Pon Radhakrishnan, state president said.

The former Union minister said the apex court should stipulate a time-bound mechanism for disposing of mercy petitions to avert inordinate delays.

Welcoming the apex court order commuting the death sentence, PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss said that in a civilised society there was no place for death penalty.

“Hence, the Indian government should abolish death penalty and convicts given death sentence should be given life term. And those convict who had undergone long years of imprisonment should be release forthwith. An amendment should be moved in the ensuing Parliament session itself,” he demanded.

He also expressed hope that death sentence of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts would also be commuted as their mercy petition have been kept undecided for the last 11 years.

VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan appealed to Karnataka chief minister to release four Tamil Nadu men whose death sentence in 1993 Palar Blast case was commuted by the apex court.

Rajiv case probe and trial flawed from start

Chennai: The landmark judgment pronounced by the Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice P. Sathasivam will not only save the 15 petitioners before them but also innumerable others spending sleepless nights on the death row in various jails across the country.

In TN, the most notable of such cases is that of the three Rajiv Gandhi assa­ssination case conv­icts, Perarivalan, Sant­han and Murugan.

The SC had sentenced the three men, along with Murugan’s wife Nalini, to death in 1999. While Nalini’s sentence was commuted to life following Sonia Gandhi’s intervention, the remaining three petitioned for­ mercy.

After several rounds of tossing around, the petitions we­re rejected by the President of India in 2011. Their appeal to the Supreme Court will come up for hearing on January 29, when it expected that the hangman will be told to go home.

TADA designated judge V Navaneetham pronounced all the 26 figuring in the SIT charge sheet as guilty on June 28, 1998. Such was his faith in the prosecution case; not just that, he also gave them all death sentences.

In retrospect, anyone who had followed that case closely would agree that the TADA judge seemed keen on being politically correct rather than legally right. How else can one explain the fate his order faced when those he condemned to the gallows appealed to the Supreme Court?

The top court confirmed only four of those death sentences and of them, Nalini got hers commuted to life after appealing to Sonia Gandhi.

That left her husba­nd Murugan, Sant­han and Pera­rivalan on the death row. While Mur­ugan and Santhan we­re accused of prov­idin­g logistic support for the assassination a­s members of the LT­TE intelligence win­g, Perari­valan, a local Tamil, was accused of procuring the 9-volt battery that was used in the belt-bomb.

‘Arivu’ was only 19 years old when he was picked up by the SIT—his mother Arpu­tha­mmal had once sai­d he was retur­ning home after a late night mov­ie show when the cops got him.

Those who knew the LTTE well enough—and the SIT was pack­ed with officers who claimed special exper­tise in Eelam militancy—should be well aware that the Tiger chief Velupillai Prab­h­akaran and his intelligence head Pot­tu Amman would ne­ver divulge to the oth­er­­s do­wn the line the det­ails of any major ope­r­ation and on­ly briefed the­m on need-to-know ba­sis.

If Perarivalan had procured the battery for the assassination project head Sivar­asan, there is zero possibi­lity that he was aw­are of its final destination.