Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassins, Not Terrorists, But Victims: The Tamil Nadu government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to grant amnesty to the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case as per the powers vested in the state government under Article 161. Nalini and Ravichandran have also knocked on the Supreme Court to grant amnesty to them as per the decision of the state government.
Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: The six convicts who were released on Saturday after 31 years of imprisonment in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case say that they should be seen as victims. On Sunday, they claimed that they are not murderers, they are not terrorists, they are victims. “People from North India don’t see us as terrorists or murderers. See us as victims. Time and power will decide who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter. But even if the authorities accuse us of being terrorists, time will prove us innocent,” said Ravichandran, one of the convicts.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of six convicts serving sentences in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case. The Supreme Court bench took this crucial decision after the Tamil Nadu government showed a willingness to release them and also got positive feedback from Sonia Gandhi’s family. The convicts Nalini Srihar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran, Raja, Sriharan, and Jayakumar, who have been arrested as accused in this case and are serving the sentence for many years, have been appealing to the court for many days for their release.
As the Madras High Court did not take any decision in this matter, the convicts filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The bench, which considered all aspects. After taking the opinions of all, including the central government, which is the respondent, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Nagaratna issued a verdict to release the convicts. In the same case, Justice Gavai’s bench ruled that the orders given by Justice Lau Nageswara Rao’s bench should be applied to the remaining six.
On the night of May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Nalini, Santhan, Murugan, AG Perarivalan, Robert Pius, Jayakumar, and Ravichandran are accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. In 1998, the Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced seven people to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. The bench commuted Nalini’s initial death sentence to Yavazzi’s jail term on her daughter’s plea. In the cabinet meeting held on September 9, 2018, the Tamil Nadu government took a decision to grant amnesty to seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. It was recommended to the Governor. However, the Governor has delayed taking a decision on this.
The Tamil Nadu government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to grant amnesty to the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case as per the powers vested in the state government under Article 161. Nalini and Ravichandran also knocked on the Supreme Court to grant amnesty to them as per the decision of the state government. Meanwhile, one of these convicts, Perivalan, was recently released after serving 30 years in prison. The rest were also released with the latest Supreme Court verdict.
