TN woman immolates self to protest against hanging of Rajiv killers

A young woman immolated herself in front of the tehsildar’s office in Kancheepuram district in India last evening, allegedly demanding remission of the death penalty awarded to three convicts of which two are Sri Lankans in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who are set to be hanged on September 9.

According to locals, C Senkodi, an unmarried woman in her 20s, shouted slogans against hanging the death row convicts — Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthentharajan alias Santhan, and G Perarivelan alias Arivu — before emptying a bottle of petrol and setting herself afire.

Though some policemen doused the fire and arranged an ambulance to take her to hospital, Senkodi died on the way.

A note she purportedly wrote was recovered in which she expressed hope that her self-immolation would help to save the lives of the trio. In it, she recalled 26-year-old K Muthukumar who set himself ablaze two years ago, demanding India’s intervention to stop the violence in Sri Lanka.

All across Tamil Nadu, political parties and organisations are protesting the trio’s execution on various grounds, including the “torturous” 11-year-wait before the Rashtrapati Bhavan took a decision on their clemency plea.

The three are likely to approach the court on Monday. Senior lawyers Ram Jethmalani, who once defended the convicts in the Indira Gandhi assassination case, and Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for Afzal Guru, are expected to represent their case.

Meanwhile, the daughter of Murugan and Nalini has appealed to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to save the lives of her father and the other two. Megara, 19, who was born in prison, is now under the care of her relatives in an undisclosed European country, the Indian Express reports.