Can't free seven killers of Rajiv Gandhi, govt tells SC

New Delhi: Disagreeing with a proposal moved by the Tamil Nadu government, the Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the seven assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi cannot be released from jail as doing so will set a “dangerous precedent” and have “international ramifications”.

The Centre told a three-judge, bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, that the Union home ministry had passed an order on April 18 and conveyed its decision to the Tamil Nadu government rejecting its proposal to grant remission to the convicts who are in jail for the last nearly 27 years.

The bench, including Justices Navin Sinha and K.M. Joseph, took the document filed by the home ministry on record and adjourned the matter.

The ministry, in its reply to the state government, had said that the trial court had given “cogent reasons” for imposing death penalty upon the accused and pointed out that even the Supreme Court had termed the assassination an “unparallel act” in the annals of crimes committed in this country.

“Releasing the four foreign nationals who had committed the gruesome murder of former Prime Minister of this country, along with 15 others most of whom were police officers, in connivance with three Indian nationals will set a very dangerous precedent and lead to international ramifications by other such criminals in the future,” the Centre said.

In a letter dated March 2, 2016 the Tamil Nadu government had reiterated its earlier proposal of February 19, 2014, to grant remission to seven convicts — Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, whose death sentence was commuted to life term, and Nalini, Robert Pius, Jayakumar and Ravichandran, serving life term, and sought the Centre’s approval.

In January this year, the apex court had granted three months to the Centre to take a decision on the state’s proposal.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at an election rally. Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed.

Additional solicitor general Pinky Anand told the bench that 16 innocent lives were lost and many sustained grievous injuries in the gruesome, inhuman, uncivilized and merciless bomb blast.

She cited the ministry’s order that said the plot was successfully executed with the active help and participation of these seven convicts and others who were LTTE militants or its staunch supporters.

The Central government in pursuance of its powers under Section 435 Cr.PC did not concur with the Tamil Nadu’s proposal to grant further remission of sentence to the seven convicts, she said.

In December 2015, a five-judge bench had held that the state government had no power to order suo motu release of seven convicts. The court had held that in cases investigated by the CBI, the Tamil Nadu state can grant remission only with the consent of the Union government.