The Special Report

26th December 1999

LTTE mask behind noose - round neck debate

By T.S.Subramanian

In the guise of pleading against capital punishment, specifically the death sentence awarded by the Supreme Court to Nalini, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) groups in Tamil Nadu have again become active. These assorted organisations had kept a low profile after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination by an LTTE member at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on May 21 1991, as revulsion raged against the action. The Center proscribed the LTTE the following year. The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence against the four persons in May and October this year. Among the groups that have hitched on to the bandwagon of the campaign against capital punishment, none, barring the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), had taken a stand against the death penalty in the past.

Tamil writers, who demanded on November 27 that "an eye for an eye, murder for murder, cannot be accepted in today's civilised society", are among those opposed to the death penalty today. According to Tamil writers carrying the banner "Tamil Writers Against Capital Punishment", Sundara Ramaswamy, Indira Parthasarathy, Ki. Rajanarayanan, Rajam Krishnan, Mu. Metha, Ponneelan, Kovai Gnani, Sirpi Balasubramaniam, Inquilab, and Pa. Jeyaprakasam there was a worldwide campaign against capital punishment and the time had come to abolish the death penalty in India. S.V. Rajadurai, a writer belonging to PUCL, said the campaign should cover not only Nalini, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan but all those who had been sentenced to death.

Many organisations came together under the banner "Abolition of death penalty - Rally for humaneness" and organised a rally in Chennai on November 30. appealing to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to recommend to the Governor the commutation of the death sentences on Nalini and three others. The organisations included splinter groups of the Dravidar Kazhagam (D.K.) The rally was led by P. Nedumaran, a pro-LTTE leader and president of the Tamil Nationalist Party, and Panrutti S. Ramachandran, founder of the People's Liberal Party.

At the conclusion of the rally, Nedumaran submitted a memorandum to Karunanidhi. He analysed the use of capital punishment in various countries sighting examples. The death penalty is "inhuman", Nedumaran argued. He said that the campaign had gathered steam after the trial court had "in an unprecedented judgment" sentenced to death all 26 people accused in the Rajiv Gandhi case. The rallyists directed their plea to Karunanidhi as the Madras High Court has ruled that as per the Constitution the Governor can act on commuting a death sentence only on the advice of the Council of Ministers. When reporters asked Karunanidhi whether a positive decision would be taken on the clemency petitions, he replied that it was up to the President . On the High Court's decision that the Council of Ministers should tender its advice, he said the Tamil Nadu Government was consulting legal opinion on the order.

Even as the State Government was caught in a cleft stick on this politically sensitive issue, Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi, in a private meeting with President K.R. Narayanan, conveyed her family's "feelings" that the life of Nalini should be spare d because she is the mother of a child. Sonia Gandhi first spoke about her meeting with Narayanan to Mohini Giri, Chairperson of the Guild of Service, when Mohini Giri met her and pleaded Nalini's case. Mohini Giri had petitioned Narayanan for the commutation of the death sentences.Sonia Gandhi's position drew sharp remarks from some present and former leaders of the Congress(I). M.S. Bitta, former president of the Indian Youth Congress and chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorism Front, is firmly against the commutation of the death sentence awarded to Nalini. Her punishment should "act as a deterrent for others", he said. If the sentence was commuted, it would encourage people pursuing the "politics of elimination" to use women as suicide bombers and target more leaders, Bitta said.

G.K. Moopanar, president of the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), said the pleas for the commutation of the death sentences were as horrendous as the murder of Rajiv Gandhi.

Vazhappadi K. Ramamurthi, president of the Tamilaga Rajiv Congress (TRC), said that Sonia Gandhi's stand showed her "immaturity" and and her stand hurts the feelings of Rajiv Gandhi loyalists.

The four condemned prisoners had sent separate clemency petitions to the Governor on October 17. later followed by writ petitions in the High Court stating that the Governor had rejected the petitions in a "hasty manner", without seeking the advice of the Council of Ministers. Senior advocate K. Chandru, appearing for the petitioners, said the Governor could exercise her power under Article 161 only after getting the advice of the Council of Ministers. Even then, the Governor was bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers, and he/she had no discretionary powers. Further he said that if the Government had been forwarding clemency petitions since 1947 to the Governor without tendering the advice of the Council of Ministers, this was done contrary to the spirit of Article 161. Even if it was a practice adopted by the State as understood by it in terms of its Business Rules, such a practice was unconstitutional. Chandru referred to Rajagopalan's argument that the Council of Ministers had framed the Business Rules and it had willingly empowered the Governor to decide on clemency petitions. According to Chandru, the Council of Ministers cannot surrender its authority or power of giving advice under Article 161 and the Business Rules cannot run contrary to the Constitution.

In his order, Justice Govindarajan referred to several Supreme Court verdicts to affirm that the Governor had no discretionary powers under Article 161.

Editorial/ Opinion Contents