The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered the release of Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran, convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who are serving life sentences. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna accepted the petitions of the jailed convicts saying that their conduct in the prison have been found satisfactory, and they have been in prison for a long time
Along with the two, the court also ordered the premature release of four other prisoners convicted in the case. They are Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar and Robert Payas. Another jailed convict AG Perarivalan was released from jail earlier this year. All of them have spent over three decades in jail after their arrests in 1991.
With this decision, all surviving convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have been released from jail. Nalini and Ravichandran had approached the apex court seeking release from prison citing the release of AG Perarivalan in May this year.
Nalini Sriharan was earlier sentenced to death after the conviction in the 1991 Assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. But her death sentence, along with death sentences to other convicts Perarivalan, Murugan and Santham, were commuted to life sentences due to delay in deciding their mercy petitions.
The Supreme Court also noted that the Tamil Nadu government had also recommended the pre-mature release of Nalini Sriharan and RP Ravichandran. The state government had filed an affidavit with the court last month in the petition filed by the convicts.
In its judgement ordering the release of the convicts, the supreme court said that Ravichandran’s conduct in prison has been found to be satisfactory and he has undertaken various studies during his incarceration, including a PG diploma in Arts. Similarly, Nalini’s conduct was also good and she has a PG diploma in Computer Application. “We have no reason to keep you in jail any longer,” the court commented.
The court said that the legal basis for the release of the six convicts was already established by the court in the release order of AG Perarivalan earlier this year, and therefore there was no need to go into it again.
Responding the refusal of the Tamil Nadu governor to agree to the release of the convicts, the bench said that the governor is bound by the resolutions made by the state government. It is notable that the Tamil Nadu government has passed multiple resolutions favouring the release of the convicts and had sent them to the governor for approval. Governments led by AIDMK and DMK had passed such resolutions.
“It can be seen that the Honourable Governor in the matter of an Appellant convicted for 302 was bound by the decision of the State, which here has recommended remission for the applicants”, the court observed.
In 2014, the then-Tamil Nadu government led by AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa invoked the state’s powers under Section 432 of CrPC and sent a recommendation to the Centre to release all convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. At that time, DMK had supported the decision.
In 2018, after coming to power, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu cabinet passed a resolution to release seven convicts of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination under Article 161 and was sent to the Governor of Tamil Nadu for approval. However, the decision from the Governor’s office remained pending.
