'No interference needed in decision to hang Rajiv Gandhi assassins'

Amid demands for commuting the sentence of three Rajiv Gandhi assassins, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy Monday said there should be no interference in the decision to hang the three.

"No power under the Constitution can now stop the hanging of these three convicts whose mercy petitions have been rejected. Hence, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has correctly stated that she cannot interfere," he said in a statement here.

He said after 12 years of "inaction" by the Union Governments a decision has finally been taken by the government and "just in time in view of my threat to file a PIL in the Supreme Court after August 15, 2011 if no action was taken."

"There should be no further interference in the decision to hang these three convicts on September 9. India can no more be perceived as a soft state when it comes to terrorists," he said.

Swamy also said commuting of another convict Nalini Sriharan's death sentence "can be set aside" by courts.