Supreme Court orders release of all 6 convicts of Rajiv Gandhi assassination

The Supreme Court of India has ordered the release of all the six remaining convicts who are serving life imprisonment in connection with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. The convicts which have been released are Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar. The Supreme Court bench, comprising of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna, passed the order as they took into consideration the case of A G Perarivalan, another convict in the case who was already released in May.

Nalini, convict who is currently out on parole, had knocked the doors of apex court seeking early release after the Madras High Court had turned down her plea. Supreme Court had ordered the release of Perarivalan on May 18, who had served more than 30 years in jail, by exercising its special powers under the Constitution’s Article 142. Nalini cited Perarivalan’s case for release from the court. Subsection 1 of Article 142 (“Enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc.”) says “the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe.”

Former prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) group from neighbouring Sri Lanka’s suicide bomber on May 21, 1991 at an election meeting in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur.

Congress party has called the Supreme Court’s decision as “totally unacceptable and completely erroneous”.

“The decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi is totally unacceptable and completely erroneous. The Congress Party criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable. It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.