The government, citing a Supreme Court order, contended that the men had set fire to the bus “in a state of mob frenzy”, the Raj Bhavan said in an official release on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu government’s top officials met Governor Banwarilal Purohit in October pressing for the release of the three AIADMK cadres convicted to life in the Dharmapuri bus burning case, stating that they “had no intention to kill” the three girl students of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

The AIADMK government, citing a Supreme Court order, contended that the men had set fire to the bus “in a state of mob frenzy”, the Raj Bhavan said in an official release on Tuesday.

The Governor twice rejected the government’s proposal to release them – once in February when they were to be freed through an omnibus order covering over 1,800 convicts, and again in October when the Raj Bhavan returned the file seeking their release. But the government persisted with its recommendation to remit their sentences.

Curiously, the Raj Bhavan, in an initial press release said: “The Hon’ble Governor was not satisfied even after the file was submitted to him on 12.11.2018 for the third time for his approval.” However, shortly thereafter it issued a fresh press release in which this sentence was omitted. A Raj Bhavan official attributed the sentence to “typographical error”.

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The Raj Bhavan said that on October 25, the government reconsidered the file and reiterated that the prisoners should be released. “Thereafter, the Advocate General and the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary met the Hon’ble Governor at Raj Bhavan on October 31 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,” the release said.

Following this, the Governor directed the Advocate General to give his legal opinion along with the observations of the Supreme Court in the case relating to the three convicts.

Apex court order

Referring to the apex court order (on a review petition filed by the convicts) dated March 11, 2016, the Advocate General gave his opinion that the death took place during the course of a mob frenzy, which was intended to cause damage to public property and the victims were unknown persons (to the convicts). There was no premeditation or planning and everything occurred in the flash of moment. The review petitioned damaged public property in order to show their resentment and protest against the conviction of the police leader in question (Jayalalithaa).

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The Advocate General further stated that the cases of the three life convicts fell within the guidelines laid down by the government for release of prisoners on the occasion of the birth centenary of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran. “The opinion of the Advocate General was accepted by the Government and the file was again re-circulated for orders with the approval of the Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Chief Secretary, Law Minister and Chief Minister with the recommendation that the three life convicts should be released prematurely as already proposed.”

The Raj Bhavan said, “After being satisfied that the three life convicts would be absorbed by the 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 the three life convicts were in prison for 13 years, orders were issued approving their premature release under Article 161 of the Constitution.”

The release also said that on the direction of the Governor, the Government issued a revised order (GO. Ms.No. 302) on the release of the prisoners on the occasion of MGR centenary. The original GO (Ms No 64) was issued in February 1, 2018.