Supreme Court orders the release of all six convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

The court passed the order based on the 18 May judgement of a bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao (since retired), Justice BR Gavai and Justice AS Bopanna, freeing AG Perarivalan, another convict in the case.

“The advice of the state Cabinet is binding on the Governor in the exercise of his powers under Article 161 of the Constitution,” the court said in the May judgment. Article 161 of the constitution spells out the power of the Governor to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases.

On 9 September 2018, the AIADMK government had decided to grant remission of sentence to Perarivalan, Murugan, Santhan, Nalini, Robert Pais, Jayakumar and Ravichandran. The decision was communicated to the then Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who sat on it for three years without taking any decision.

Despite the government’s recommendation, the Governor claimed that it was the President who had to give assent to requests for remission, based on the Union government’s proposal.

Perarivalan had been sending mercy petitions since 2015. In 2021, the CBI submitted before the Supreme Court that he was not required for any investigation.

In its order on Friday, the court noted the conduct and activities of each of the six convicts including their academic pursuits.

The top court recorded in its order that “Nalini has been behind bars for over three decades and her conduct has also been satisfactory. She has a PG diploma in Computer Application. Ravichandran’s conduct has also been found to be satisfactory and he has undertaken various studies during his incarceration including a PG diploma in Arts. He has also collected various amounts for charity.”

The top court on 26 September had issued notice to the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government, initially on Nalini Sriharan and Ravichandran’s plea seeking early release.

Nalini and Ravichandran have challenged a Madras High Court order, which rejected their plea for an early release. The order was issued on 17 June 2022.

The high court, while turning down the petition, had stated that it did not have the plenary powers that the Supreme Court has under Article 142 of the Constitution and hence, it cannot order their release, like the Supreme Court did for Perarivalan in May 2022.

In Perarivalan’s case, the Supreme Court held that the Governor was bound to act on the state government’s decision on granting remission.

Senior Advocates Sanjay Hegde and Gopal Shankaranarayanan represented the appellants. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appeared for the government.

Congress, DMK react

Jairam Ramesh, the AICC general secretary in charge of communications, termed the remission “totally unacceptable and completely erroneous”.

“The Congress Party criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable,” he said in a statement shared on Twitter.

My statement on the decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining killers of former PM Shri. Rajiv Gandhi pic.twitter.com/ErwqnDGZLc

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 11, 2022

“It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue,” he added.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin, however, adopted a different tone in his reaction to the apex court’s order.

He said: “The verdict has come as a historical upholding of democratic principles.”

Stalin added: “It also underscores that Governors shouldn’t put on the back burner the decisions taken by elected governments.”

பேரறிவாளனைத் தொடர்ந்து, நளினி உள்ளிட்ட 6 பேரையும் உச்சநீதிமன்றம் விடுதலை செய்துள்ளது நாம் நடத்திய வலிமையான சட்டப்போராட்டங்களுக்கும், மனிதநேயத்துக்கும் கிடைத்த வெற்றி!

அரசின் முடிவுகளை நியமனப் பதவியில் இருப்போர் கிடப்பில் போடக்கூடாது என்ற வகையில் மக்களாட்சிக் கோட்பாட்டின் வெற்றி! pic.twitter.com/lisDir178n

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) November 11, 2022

Background

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, 47, was on a poll campaign trail when a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) human bomb, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam alias Kalaivani Rajaratnam alias Dhanu, carried out an attack, killing the Congress leader instantly at Sriperumbudur, some 40 km southwest of Tamil Nadu’s capital city Chennai, on 21 May, 1991.

Gandhi’s statement, that he would send the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) back to Sri Lanka to disarm the LTTE led to the assassination.

He had despatched IPKF to Sri Lanka when in power. The IPKF was in the island nation for three years from 1987.

After a 90-day search, investigators found the hideout of seven LTTE cadre, including one-eyed Sivarasan, at the Konankunte village on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Attempts to capture them failed as they all consumed cyanide in August 1991.

A Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court sentenced 26 accused people to death on 20 January 1998.

A year later, 19 people were released, while the death sentence of Nalini, Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan was upheld, while Ravichandran, Robert Payas, and Jayakumar were awarded life imprisonment.

The Supreme Court commuted Nalini’s death sentence to life imprisonment in 2000. Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan were awarded relief in 2014.