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On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan and RP Ravichandran, who were serving life imprisonment in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna passed the order while taking into consideration the good conduct of convicts in the prison.
The apex court noted that they had been behind bars for a very long period.
"Applicants are thus directed to be released unless wanted in any other case. Matter accordingly disposed of," the bench stated in its order while allowing their pleas for release.
The top court further said:
"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 released Nalini, Ravichandran, Robert Payas, Jayakumar, S Raja, and Shriharan — six of the seven people originally convicted in the high-profile case.
On May 18, the Supreme Court had evoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to release AG Perarivalan — the seventh convict in the assassination case.
The Tamil Nadu government had earlier recommended the pre-mature release of the convicts, saying that its 2018 aid and advice for the remission of their life sentences was binding upon the Governor.
It had considered the mercy petitions of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and resolved to recommend the Governor for the remission of their life sentences, invoking Article 161 of the Constitution.
Nalini and Ravichandran had earlier knocked on the door of the Madras High Court seeking the same relief. However, the High Court had refused to entertain the petition at the time.
While turning down the petition, the Madras High Court had stated that it did not have special powers that the Supreme Court had — under Article 142 of the Constitution — and hence, it could not order their release, like the Supreme Court did for Perarivalan in May 2022. The High Court had said they could approach the Supreme Court if their plea was based on his release.
Following Perarivalan's release, Ravichandran had sent a letter to Chief Minister MK Stalin seeking the release of the remaining six convicts (including himself) and mentioned that the Governor had kept the files of release without consideration for over three years which he condemned as an anti-constitutional approach.
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 a poll rally.
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