SC orders release of six Rajiv Gandhi killers serving life terms

The Supreme Court on Friday freed six convicts who have spent more than three decades in jail for their involvement in the assassination of former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. The order mirrored the reasoning adopted by the top court nearly six months ago when it set free the seventh convict, AG Perarivalan, on the grounds of his poor health and good conduct.

A bench of justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said that the criteria adopted for the release of Perarivalan equally applied to the remaining six convicts, including the sole woman in the group, S Nalini, who was arrested on June 14,1991. Besides Nalini, the other convicts are V Sriharan alias Murugan, RP Ravichandran, T Suthenthraraja alias Santhan, Robert Pious, and Jeyakumar.

Passing a short order, the bench said, “We find that factors which weighed with this Court while directing release of Perarivalan are equally applicable to all present applicants.”

The Tamil Nadu government recommended the release of all seven convicts on September 9, 2018. This opinion was held to be binding on the Tamil Nadu governor by the top court in the Perarivalan case and, therefore, applied to other accused. The Governor sought the advice of the President on the state’s recommendation, but the court said that it was his call to take and that he was bound to follow the decision of the state.

As Friday’s order recorded: “This Court in its May 18, 2022 judgment held that Governor, in matters of remission of appellants convicted under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was bound by the Cabinet decision. In the present case also, the Cabinet has resolved to grant remission to the applicants.”

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision. “I welcome the Supreme Court Verdict on the release of six persons,” Stalin said in a tweet.

“This judgment of the Supreme Court is proof that the decisions and decisions of the government elected by the people should not be shelved by the governors in the appointed positions,” he said.

The CM, also the president of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, said that his party had championed the cause of their release while in Opposition too. After assuming power last year, his government urged the Centre to release them, writing to then President Ram Nath Kovind, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and backed the legal battle for setting them free.

The Congress, however, termed the SC order “totally unacceptable and completely erroneous”, and said the apex court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue.

In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “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.”

Addressing a press conference, party leader Abhishek Singhvi said, “Rajiv Gandhi’s killing was an attack on the national integrity.”

Responding to questions on former party president Sonia Gandhi pleading for the release of the convicts, Singhvi said, “Sonia Gandhi, above all, is entitled to her personal views. But with greatest respect, the party doesn’t agree and has made our view clear.”

“We stand by that view because according to us, sovereignty, integrity, identity of the nation is involved in a PM’s assassination sitting or former. That’s perhaps why the central government has also never agreed with the state government’s view in this regard,” the Congress leader said.

Senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Gopal Shankarnaraynan appearing for the six convicts pointed out that they all had been in jail for over 30 years, had history of medical ailments, showed satisfactory conduct in jail, and acquired educational degrees during their incarceration.

Robert Pious became a postgraduate in MA (History) in the year 2004 while his brother-in-law Jeyakumar completed his school education in 2006 while in jail and later acquired diploma degrees in catering. They were sentenced to death by the TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court along with 24 others in January 1998 but the Supreme Court commuted their sentence while deciding their appeals in 1999.

Nalini was one of the chief conspirators of the assassination who provided logistics to the suicide bomber responsible for the former PM’s death. Her death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in May 1999 along with three others — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. It was commuted to life sentence by the Tamil Nadu governor on April 24, 2000. The remaining death row convicts benefited from a subsequent Supreme Court decision in January 2014 which held that inordinate delay in deciding mercy petitions filed by death row convicts would result in commutation of their punishment to life term.

Nalini’s lawyer G Anand Selvam told the court that her conduct throughout her incarceration was satisfactory and that she acquired a postgraduate diploma in Computer Applications while in jail. Her husband Sriharan also claimed similar relief having acquired Masters in Computer Applications during his term in jail. Of the remaining two, Ravichandran claimed to have secured a postgraduate degree in Arts while Santhan, who suffered from various medical ailments, claimed he wrote articles and poems, some of which got published and received global awards in Germany and France.

The court said, “We direct all appellants to have deemed to have served the sentence in connection with Crime No. 329 of 1991. They are directed to be set at liberty if not required in any other case.”

Justice Gavai was part of the three-judge bench order of May 18, which said, “Taking into account the appellant’s (Perarivalan) prolonged period of incarceration, his satisfactory conduct in jail and during parole, chronic ailments from his medical records, his educational qualifications acquired during incarceration and the pendency of his petition under Article 161 for two and a half years despite the recommendation of the State Cabinet, we do not consider it fit to remand the matter for the Governor’s consideration.”

In that judgment, the court exercised its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to do “complete justice” and directed Perarivalan to be set at liberty forthwith.

Nalini and another convict, RP Ravichandran approached the top court in August against a Madras high court decision of June 17 that said they could not be released just because Perarivalan was. The remaining convicts then filed applications seeking equal treatment in SC.

The HC said that unless the governor signs on the mercy plea submitted by the convicts under Article 161 (Governor’s power to pardon), it was not possible to set the petitioners free. It said, “If the argument of learned counsel for the petitioners that a mere recommendation of the Council of Ministers to grant remission is sufficient and authorisation of the Governor is not required is accepted, then virtually the court would be declaring Article 161 of the Constitution of India redundant qua the power of the Governor.”

The HC had further noted the fact that in January 2021, the governor had sent the 2018 Tamil Nadu Cabinet resolution along with Perarivalan’s mercy plea to the President for approval.

On September 26, the top court entertained the plea of the convicts and issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government. The Centre was not a party in these proceedings, unlike in the Perarivalan case. The Tamil Nadu government represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi informed the court that the state stood by its earlier recommendation and it was now for the governor to act.

Almost all the accused were in their 20s when they were arrested in the years 1991-1992 following the killing at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. The seven convicts were convicted by a Special TADA court following their clear role in the conspiracy to assassinate the former PM that also resulted in the death of 15 others, including nine police personnel.