'Rajiv Gandhi convicts should be hanged'

Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee President, AV Subramanian, has demanded that the death sentence to the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case be carried out and said "terrorism should not be linked with narrow interests such as language, race, caste or religion".

"The political parties and outfits fighting against the death sentence in the pretext of saving Tamils should understand that nine among the 15 persons killed along with Rajiv Gandhi were innocent Tamils," Subramanian said in a press release here today.

Terming Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts, as "innocents" is an "assault on the judiciary, sovereignty and integrity of the nation," he said.

"In the recent blasts at Delhi, 13 innocent Indians have been killed. Terrorism should not be linked with language, race, caste, religion and other narrow interests. In the fight against terrorism, capital punishment is inevitable," he said, adding that only in the 'rarest of rare' cases, death penalty is imposed in India.

In the case of Rajiv Gandhi assassination, the Supreme Court has awarded death sentence only to four persons, whose role in the conspiracy was proved beyond doubt, Subramanian said. "The death sentence to the trio is very fair and justice should prevail," he said and added that pardoning the Rajiv killers would only encourage terrorism in the country.

The Madras High Court recently stayed for eight weeks the execution of the three convicts, which was set to be carried out on September 9 after the President rejected their mercy petitions.