SC decision totally unacceptable, completely erroneous: Cong
NEW DELHI, 11 Nov: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan and RP Ravichandran, serving life sentence in the assassination case of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said that the judgment of the top court in the case of AG Perarivalan, one of the convicts in the case, is equally applicable in their matter.
“In so far as the applicants before us are concerned, their death sentences were commuted to life on account of delay. We direct that all the appellants are deemed to have served their sentence. The applicants are thus directed to be released, unless required in any other case,” the bench said.
Nalini and Ravichandran had moved the top court, seeking premature release. Both of them had challenged a 17 June order of the Madras High Court, which rejected their pleas for early release, and cited the apex court judgment ordering the release of co-convict Perarivalan.
Nalini, Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Perarivalan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar were sentenced to life terms in the case.
Invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court had on 18 May ordered the release of Perarivalan, who had served over 30 years in jail.
Gandhi was assassinated on the night of 21 May, 1991 in Sriperumbudur, in Tamil Nadu, by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.
Meanwhile, the Congress party on Friday termed “totally unacceptable and completely erroneous” the Supreme Court’s order and said that the apex court “has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue.”
In a statement, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said that the decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining killers of the former prime minister 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,” he said. (PTI)
