Convicts did not mean to kill anyone'

TIMES OF INDIA
Three AIADMK men found guilty of burning to death three college girls in Dharmapuri on February 2, 2000 have escaped the noose with the Supreme Court reviewing its own order, and commuting their death penalty into imprisonment for life.

Moments after AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was found guilty in the Pleasant Stay Hotel case and sentenced to one year imprisonment on February 2, 2000, a mob torched at Ilakkiyampatti a Tamil Nadu Agricultural University bus carrying 70 students returning from a field trip. Kokilavani of Namakkal, Hemalatha of Chennai and K Gayathri of Viruddhachalam were burned to death.

On February 15, 2007, a sessions court in Salem sentenced three AIAADMK men -Nedunchezhian, Muniyappan and Ravindran --to death. It also ordered 25 others to undergo seven years of im prisonment. While two others were acquitted of all charges, one accused had died during the pendency of the case. Madras high court up held the death penalty on De cember 6, 2007, and it was con firmed by the Supreme Court on August 30, 2010.

A renewed bid to get their sentences commuted was made when review petitions were filed on their behalf in the Supreme Court. On Fri day , a three judge bench com prising Justice Ranjan Gogoi Justice Arun Mishra and Jus tice Prafulla C Pant commut ed the death sentence into life term by reviewing its order delivered about five and half years ago. Last week witnessed argu ments by top senior counsel, who sought to invoke the doctrine of `diminished responsibility' saying the convicts, who were `victims of mob psychology , had no personal animosity against the victims. Counsel argued that the convicts did not mean to kill anyone but were actually looking to destroy government property .