Are the death sentences given after 20 years of stay behind bars correct? Aren't the delays occurring due to following correct legal procedures actually giving a hint of careless attitude of our nation?

PREPARATIONS ARE being made in Vellore Central Prison to actualize the death sentence of three accused in Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case. Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan are the three accused whose mercy plea was rejected by Indian President Pratibha Patil earlier this month. The President's action came 11 years after these three people were filed. Murugan and Santhan are Sri Lankan Tamils who were core members of LTTE team that carried out the ground work for the assassination such as acting as conduits for money and messages; and Perarivalan, an Indian, faces the sentence due to a charge of buying the battery cells used in the belt bomb worn by the suicide bomber.

Rajiv Gandhi, who was an Indian Prime Minister between 1984 and 1989, was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber namely Thenmozhi Rajaratnam a.k.a. Dhanu at an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Chennai on May 21, 1991. From the time the trial of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins and plotters was conducted under TADA, where death sentence was given to all the 26 accused, till today the accused have not been given the proper sentence. 

I have several questions regarding the delay in their death sentences. First, is a very obvious one that why this delay and that too of 11 years? And if I go by today's news there is going to be a further delay as Chennai High Court has ordered an interim stay on the hanging of the three culprits. Were our previous presidents and governments foolish in not rejecting the mercy plea of the culprits? Looks like here again our honorable President proved her loyalty towards Congress and Gandhi family by rejecting the mercy plea. 

I accept that undoubtedly the three convicts were accused of heinous crime but how fair is it to make somebody stay in jail for 20 years and then hang him? These convicts have already spent more than a minimum requirement of a life imprisonment. Such kind of delays are actually resulting in making a mockery of our judicial system and clearly shows how politics favors, and very slow working of our various government departments cause delays in fulfillment of a sentence. Another example of this slow working system is the case of Kasab. I understand through his case India aims to set an example for the world, but this delay is actually converting into a picnic for Kasab. He was taught to die on the same day, i.e. 26^th November 2008, but unfortunately he was caught. His custody helped our security agencies to unearth the plot and plotters. But, again every single day delay in hanging him is actually an injustice being done to the country, its citizens and to those innocent victims of his whom he and his accomplice brutally killed. The delay is also costing a lot to Indian government but I guess we are too committed to be slow and set an example for the world. 

Coming back to the three culprits and their death sentence, my third question is do we actually need death penalty for prisoners who have already spent more than 7 years in jail? Are the authorities sure that these people, who have spent 20 years in jail, haven’t had a change of heart, in their philosophy or outlook towards life? If yes, then why hang them? And if no, then our jailors and other teachers of the prison need to think why they couldn't reform a person in 20 long years? 

If India really dares to hang these three persons to set an example then probably somewhere we will fail miserably on the grounds that we failed to reform these people in the span of 20 years while they were behind bars. On the socio-political grounds when trials and decisions are delayed and accused are left behind the bars to keep decomposing throughout their lives before they actually get the real sentence for their offence. By these actions India is indeed setting an example but of a country who has a very weak socio-political system, where culprits even after committing heinous crimes entitled to a death sentence get to spend 20 or more years behind bars. I guess the masters in all the terrorist organizations might be teaching their would-be terrorist students that don't worry just go commit a massacre and you don’t have to worry about anything rather you would just get free meals, and a secured place to stay.