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The Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death penalty of Rajiv Gandhi's killers to life term, citing the 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas.With this, the three convicts on death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case — Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan — have been spared the gallows.A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam rejected the Centre's submission that there was no unreasonable delay in deciding their mercy plea and the condemned prisoners did not go through agonizing experience as they were enjoying life behind the bars.The bench, also comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and S K Singh, said they are unable to accept the Centre's view and commuted the death sentence of convicts to imprisonment for life subject to remission by the government. There had been inordinate delay on government and President's part to decide their mercy pleas, the SC judges said.The apex court rejected the Centre's contention that delay in deciding mercy plea of convicts Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan did not result in agony."We implore government to render advice in reasonable time to the President for taking a decision on mercy pleas," the court said.The top court has asked the government to add a new criteria for considering commuting death penalty to life imprisonment — inordinate delay in deciding mercy petitions.It said the government should handle the cases of mercy petitions in a more systematic manner."We are confident that mercy plea can be decided at much faster speed than what is being done now," the bench said.The convicts had submitted that mercy plea of other prisoners, which were filed after them, were decided but their petitions were kept pending by the government.Their plea was strongly opposed by the Centre which had said that it was not a fit case for the apex court to commute death sentence on the ground of delay in deciding mercy plea.Admitting that there has been delay in deciding the mercy petitions, the government, however, had contended that the delay was not unreasonable, unexplainable and unconscionable to commute death penalty.The counsel, appearing for the convicts, had contested the Centre's arguments, saying that they have suffered due to the delay by the government in deciding the mercy petitions and the apex court should intervene and commute their death sentence to life term.The apex court had, in May 2012, decided to adjudicate the petitions of Rajiv Gandhi killers against their death penalty and had directed that their plea, pending with the Madras high court, be sent to it.Rajiv Gandhi was killed in May 1991. His assassins were convicted by a TADA court in January 1998 and were awarded death sentence, which was confirmed by the apex court May 11, 1999.
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