Just think about the great mishap, which could have happened if the Supreme Court hadn’t issued a stay order. Today Tamil Nadu might have released all the seven murderers of our ex Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Look at the audacity of Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Jayalalitha. How soon she misapplied the ruling of the court. The day that the court reduced the death sentence of the murderers to a life imprisonment, Jayalalitha on the same day decided to release those three murderers. Not only this, Tamil Nadu government also announced the release of the other four prisoners serving life sentence in Tamil Nadu jail.
Jayalalitha even gave a warning to the Central government that, they also have to approve her decision to free the three murderers, or else all seven murderers would be released. The permission of Central government was not requested, instead they were threatened to give their approval.
Supreme Court put a stay order on the decision of the Tamil Nadu government, to release the murderers and asked Jayalalitha government to present their case in the court. Indian government submitted a petition to Supreme Court asking for the Supreme Court to maintain the death sentence of the murderers. They also protested strongly against the release of these killers.
Let’s hope that the court will give such a judgement that would set an example for every state government, so that no state government would ever dare to do such a disgraceful act. Although according to Indian Penal code state governments have the right to grant pardon or reduce the sentence of a criminal. But they cannot abuse this right according to their will. The law states that there has to be a solid legitimate reason behind such a decision.
The three murderers of Rajiv Gandhi were granted pardon from the court. The reason or logic behind this decision could be that they had already spent twenty years behind bars. Their appeal for a pardon has been pending for more than ten years and the government never responded. That’s why court decided to remove their death sentence and released them from jail. But the state government took this decision one step further and decided to release all seven murderers.
The reasoning behind this decision of state government is completely nonsensical. The first thing one has to look for, before granting pardon to any convict is the severity and heinousness of the crime. Was the act of violence committed in the heat of passion? Did the attack on Rajiv Gandhi happen because of a personal vendetta? Absolutely not. It was a pre-planned, cold-blooded murder.
The attack on Rajiv Gandhi was intended to strike a devastating blow against the unity and the integrity of India. That was an act of pure terrorism. It was an extremely vicious attack. Along with the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, sixteen police officers were killed that day.
Jayalalitha is showing such great mercy on the murderers but what about the families of the victims who lost their fathers and husbands. The free pardon of these murderers means that we are becoming more tolerant against terrorism. You are worried about the human rights of seven murderers but no one cares about the human rights of those innocent citizens who become victims of such terrorist attacks.
If you are granting pardon to these Tamil terrorists then why did you hang the Pakistani terrorist? Aren’t both of these terrorists equally guilty? If you are releasing these Tamil terrorists then why don’t you show mercy for Sikh, Kashmiri, and Naga-Mizo terrorists? By showing mercy on the foreign terrorists you are hurting the foreign policy of India. You are sending a dangerous message to the neighbouring countries that India is a weak nation.
Why did Jayalalitha take this decision that hurts the image of India and its foreign policy? Did she not think about the national security before taking this decision?
The travesty of this situation is that Jayalalitha herself strongly opposed these Tamilian terrorists. She was also on the target of LTTE in Tamil Nadu once. When Karunanidhi Government proposed to release these murderers, at that time Jayalalitha and her party strongly opposed this decision.
Jayalalitha always opposed the activities of LTTE. But what happened now that she completely changed her stand on this issue? Why is she going against her own policy? Jayalalitha took this decision knowing that it will never be legally approved by the Supreme Court. She knows perfectly well that no State Government could take a one-sided decision, when the case falls under the jurisdiction of CBI or if a case is concerned with the threat on National Security.
In spite of knowing this Jayalalitha made this decision. There is no innocent feeling of mercy behind this decision. It is pure politics. She wants to win every Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu. And she dreams the dream of becoming the Prime Minister of India. If she could become the saviour of these Tamilian murderers, then she has complete hope that whole Tamil Nadu would come forward to support her. And poor Karunanidhi could do nothing but watch from the side lines. This is her winning move. But chances of that happening are bleak. And even if they are not released she could hold her head high because she will be seen as a strong woman who stood against the central government to save these poor Tamilians.
If you blame Jayalalitha for making this decision based on regional politics, then you should also keep in mind that Congress is responsible for keeping them alive until now. Who is ruling this country for the last ten years? Congress. Why did Congress kept pending the mercy petition of these killers? They could have easily requested the President to reject this petition, so that these convicts could be hanged immediately. They didn’t take this step because their weak government needed the support of DMK Party. They didn’t dare to go against LTTE supporting DMK Party.
When the government didn’t do anything then the Supreme Court reduced their death sentence to life imprisonment. Who is responsible for this? If the Tamil Nadu State Government is Jayalalitha’s. then Sonia Gandhi has the Central Government. What is the difference between these two? They are both equally guilty.
Every politician, party and leader only does things for their own gains. This narrow-minded selfishness is the foundation on which they make every decision. They never hesitate to sacrifice national unity and integrity for their personal gains. This is the sad reality of Indian politics today.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayalalithaa