Man sets himself afire condemning death penalty for 3 convicts

Man sets himself afire condemning death penalty for 3 convicts

Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 
A 43-year-old man on Monday suffered burns after he set himself ablaze allegedly condemning the death sentence awarded to three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, police said.

Selvam, a resident of West Saidapet here, has been admitted to hospital with 40 per cent burns, police said.

On Sunday, a 22-year-old woman, Sengodi of Kancheepuram, succumbed to her injuries after she set herself on fire condemning the death sentence awarded to Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had said in the state Assembly on Monday that she had no power to alter the Presidential order rejecting the clemency plea of the three convicts and called upon the youth ‘not to act upon impulse’.

The three are scheduled to be hanged on September 9 at the central prison in Vellore 
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Woman immolates self to protest death penalty for convicts in Rajiv case

CHENNAI, August 29, 2011

Special Arrangement

Posted by Thavam 

A 20-year-old woman immolated herself inside the Taluk office in Kancheepuram on Sunday evening, protesting the death sentence awarded to Santhan, Murugan and G. Perarivalan alias Arivu, convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

P. Senkodi died within two hours after she set herself on fire. She emptied two litres of petrol from a bottle before setting herself ablaze.

Police sources said eyewitnesses had noticed a young woman, dressed in a salwar kameez, walking into the office around 5.45 p.m. Minutes later, they heard a woman's cries and rushed to the spot and noticed her engulfed in a ball of fire. Residents and the skeleton staff of government offices, including the police and fire stations, put out the fire. A government ambulance stationed nearby rushed her to the Government General Hospital, where she succumbed to injuries around 7.30 p.m.
A file photo of P. Senkodi who immolated hereself protesting against death sentence to convicts in Rajiv murder case.

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