What is the point in executing them now?

CHENNAI: “What purpose would the capital punishment serve now after 20 years?” asks 64-year old KK Sulaiman, a long-time Congress worker of Sriperumbudur who was part of the reception team that organised the fateful election meeting of Rajiv Gandhi in the town in 1991.    He was about 10 feet away from Gandhi when the human bomb Dhanu exploded herself. Sulaiman’s body was so badly bruised that he was taken to be dead and dumped in the mortuary of a government hospital.  Luckily, he survived the blast to tell the tale of the gory night . He lost a finger and has shrapnel injury marks visible to this day. He has testified before the CBI, the Jain Commission and the Verma Commission of Inquiry.  Sulaiman says inhumane punishment like hanging cannot bring back lives. “I don’t know if death can be the only answer to death.” “It’s all over now. Would capital punishment meet the ends of justice? Or would it absolve the offenders of their crime?” he asks. Going further into the issue, Sulaiman says it is widely “believed” that the CBI had falsely implicated Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan in the case. “There is strong suspicion that many big offenders have escaped and these three men were implicated,” he said.