Chennai: Amid criticism from the Opposition parties over the release of three members of the AIADMK, convicted for life in the sensational Dharmapuri bus burning case in which three college girls died, Governor Banwarilal Purohit today clarified that they were released as they had no intention to kill and that they set fire to the bus in a state of mob frenzy.
The Tamilnadu government yesterday issued an order releasing the three convicts, Nedunchezhian, Ravindran and Muniappan, to mark the birth centenary of former chief minister MGR.
The three convicts, while protesting against late leader J Jayalalilthaa’s conviction in a corruption case in 2000, had torched a bus in Dharmapuri district in which three students – Kokilavani, Hemalatha and Gayathri of Tamilnadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore – were charred to death.
All the three accused were initially awarded death penalty by the trial court and it was upheld by the Supreme Court.
However, on a review petition filed by them, the Apex Court commuted their death to life sentence two years ago.
Their release drew criticisms from Opposition parties who questioned the Governor’s silence on the State government’s recommendation for release of seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case under Article 161 of the Constitution.
Detailing the sequence of events and the legal position and placing them in proper perspective, a Raj Bhavan statement said, “After being satisfied that the three life convicts will be absorbed by the local society without any disturbance and based on the grounds that the Supreme Court had observed that the deaths had taken place in a state of mob frenzy and taking into account the fact that they have been in prison for 13 years, orders were issued approving their premature release under Article 161 of the Constitution.”
The statement said a total of 1,627 life convicts had been ordered for release following this procedure with the orders of the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution.
The cases of the three life convicts were submitted along with the bunch of files containing the cases of other life convicts.
“On examining the cases one by one, Purohit recorded with regard to these three life convicts that the
recommendation of the Government should be reconsidered and returned the file. It said the file was reconsidered by the government and submitted on 25 October with the same recommendations that they be released. Thereafter, the Advocate General, the Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary met the Governor at Raj Bhavan on 31 October and explained the details of the case and highlighted the point that the three life convicts had no intention to kill and that they set fire to the bus in a state of mob frenzy,” it added.
The Governor directed the Advocate General (AG) to give his legal opinion along with the observations of the Supreme Court in the case pertaining to the three life convicts.
The Advocate General, in his opinion, recorded that the Supreme Court in its 11 March 2016 order
had observed that “we have noticed that the acts attributed to the accused review petitioners leading
to the death of the three innocent girl students of the university were committed in the course of a
mob frenzy which started with destruction of public property”, the statement said.
“The intent of the mob, including the accused review petitioners, all along, was to cause damage to public property in order to show their resentment and protest against the conviction of the political leader in question,” the AG, referring to the court order, said, and added that the victims were unknown persons, there was no premeditation or planning and all that had occurred had so occurred in a flash of a moment.
The AG stated that the cases of the three life convicts fell within the guidelines laid down by the government for release of the prisoners on the occasions of Bharat Ratna Dr M G R Centenary
Celebrations.
The opinion of the Advocate General was accepted by the government and the file was again recirculated
for orders with the approval of the Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Chief Secretary, Law Minister and
the Chief Minister with the recommendation that the three life convicts be released prematurely,
as already proposed.
The Governor was not satisfied even after the file was submitted to him 12 November for the third time for his approval, it said.
It said after being satisfied that the three life convicts would be absorbed by the local society without any disturbance and based on the apex court observations that the deaths had taken place in a state of mob frenzy and taking into account the fact that they have been in prison for 13 years, orders were issued by Purohit for their premature release under Article 161 of the Constitution.