The Supreme Court ordered the release of all six remaining convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, including Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas, and Jayakumar, on Friday. The judgement was issued by a bench comprised of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna while considering the case of A G Perarivalan, another convict who was released in May.
Nalini, who is now on parole, petitioned the Supreme Court for early release from prison after the Madras High Court denied her plea. Her plea was submitted after the Supreme Court, on May 18, ordered the release of Perarivalan, who had served more than 30 years in prison, by exercising its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. The Article empowers the Supreme Court to issue orders in order to secure “complete justice” in a case. In seeking similar relief, Nalini cited Perarivalan’s case, according to a report by Indian Express.
On May 21, 1991, an LTTE suicide bomber assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during an electoral meeting in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur.
In the case, seven prisoners were sentenced to life in prison. The Supreme Court sentenced four of them to death and three to life in prison in 1999. Nalini’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 2000. The Supreme Court commuted the other three death sentences, including Perarivalan’s, in 2014.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
