The Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that the Tamil Nadu Government’s proposal to release the seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has been rejected as reducing their sentence will set a “dangerous precedent” and will cause “international ramifications”.
The decision taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs was placed before the bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi which took the document on record and adjourned the matter for final disposal. The Court had on the previous date of hearing in January this year asked the Centre to decide on the state Government’s letter to release the seven convicts. The convicts V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santham, AG Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, P Ravichandaran and Nalini have been in jail for the last 25 years.
The matter had raised an interesting legal question whether the State can grant remission without consulting the Centre. The apex court finally decided on this question and held that the Centre’s approval is a must as the case was investigated by CBI.