Death sentence

Nope. Once a death sentence is imposed only President has the power to condone it.

Move mercy petition.

One may find some options after studying the facts of the case. One may read the following below:

The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered an interim stay on the execution of three death-row assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who were to hang on September 9 after President Pratibha Patil rejected their mercy petitions earlier this month.

The three convicts -- Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan -- had argued that the 11-year delay in deciding their fate was violative of their fundamental rights as every human being under the Constitution is entitled to a speedy trial.

The court stayed their death sentences for eight weeks.

In more support, the Tamil Nadu Assembly too adopted a unanimous resolution on Tuesday, urging the President to consider the plea of the death row convicts.

Granting the interim stay, a bench comprising justices C Nagappan and M Sathayanarayanan observed there had been a delay of over 11 years in the disposal of the mercy petitions filed by the convicts to the President seeking clemency.

The matter involved a question of law, the judges said, and admitted the writ petitions and issued notices to the Centre, the state and the Tamil Nadu police.

Their case was taken up by senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani and others. A crowd that had gathered outside the court welcomed the court order. MDMK leader Vaiko, who strongly pleaded for the commutation of capital punishment, was also present in the court.

Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, R Vaigai and Colin Gonsalves, appearing on behalf of the convicts, contended the “inordinate and inexplicable delay” in disposing their mercy petitions violated Article 21 of the Constitution (Protection of life and personal liberty).

Jethmalani later told reporters that the delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy plea was “mental torture” for the convicts. “You make him suffer a thousand times. Is this justice?” he asked.

He said the government should consider the “people's voice” against execution.

In three separate petitions, the convicts also sought an interim injunction to stay their executions till disposal of their petitions.

They said the mercy pleas were with the President for 11 years since April 26, 2000 before being rejected. They claimed 'an unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional delay was caused by the President and the Union of India in the disposal of the mercy petition'.

“No explanation has been offered either for the delay in forwarding the mercy petitions by the state government to the President or the delay in disposal by both authorities,” they contended.

They said they had sent fresh mercy petitions to the President on August 27.

The three convicts referred to the Supreme Court ruling in the 'Madhu Mehta versus Union of India' case, saying the court had held that undue delay in execution of the death sentence would entitle the condemned person to approach the court under Article 32 (right to constitutional remedy) of the Constitution.

They contended the apex court had held 'the court is entitled and indeed obliged to consider the question of inordinate delay in the light of all circumstances of a case to decide whether the execution of sentence should be carried out or should be altered to life imprisonment'.

Speedy trial is part of one's fundamental right to life and liberty. This principle is no less important for the disposal of a mercy petition, they contended.

The mercy petitions were not placed before the council of ministers but only before the Union Home Ministry, which rejected them, they claimed, and said the President should not have acted on the advice of the Home Ministry.

They contended they had submitted letters to the President about the pendency of their mercy petitions.

They said in the 'Javed Ahmad vs State of Maharashtra' case, an over two-year delay in adjudication of the mercy petition was held sufficient to have the death penalty commuted to life.

Stating the key conspirators, including LTTE chief Prabhakaran, Pottu Aman, Akila and Sivarasan had been killed, they submitted 'the crime, as is well known, was a political crime and in the changed political atmosphere, there is absolutely no possibility of recurrence of the crime' if they were permitted to live.

The convicted persons said the delay in disposal of the mercy petitions had given them hope they may be given an opportunity to live.

“We had, therefore, putting aside our agony and shadow of death, equipped ourselves educationally so as to be useful to society and to our families.”

They claimed they had exhibited exemplary conduct in the last 20 years in prison. None of them had any previous criminal record and during the long imprisonment had not only been socially useful, but also helpful to all other inmates in the high security central prison at Vellore where they are lodged.

They said they have been living under the shadow of the hangman's noose for the last 11 years, during which period they have been kept in a single cell.

They submitted the apex court had found in their cases the offences for which they had been convicted were individual acts of crime and not against society at large.

The proposed execution of the death penalty, therefore, “is most inhuman and shocks all canons of civilised norms”, they claimed, and said it was a fit case for the High Court to direct the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

Source: https://www.indianexpress.com/news/madras-hc-stays-execution-of-rajiv-gandhis-killers/839197/1