New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Tamil Nadu not to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Centre had moved the court calling the Jayalalithaa government’s decision illegal, arguing that only the central government had the power to free the convicts.
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam said, “We are concerned with procedural lapses and we will examine it.” The court issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and asked the convicts to respond in two weeks.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India. No government or party should be soft in our fight against terrorism.”
The Centre filed a review petition against the Supreme Court’s order sparing three of the convicts, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, from execution, and asked the court to put on hold Tamil Nadu’s plan to release all the convicts.
Since Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was investigated by a central agency, CBI, under a central law, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act or TADA, the Tamil Nadu government decision was flawed
Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that he was saddened by the decision to free his father’s killers. “I am personally against death penalty. But if a Prime Minister’s killers are being set free, what justice can the common man expect?”
Congress termed the Jayalalithaa government’s decision as “perverse, irresponsible and populist’’
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