File Picture : Rajiv Gandhi is greeted before his address at an election rally in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, moments before he was killed by a suicide bomber.
The Tamil Nadu government in the Supreme Court recommended the pre-mature release of Nalini Sriharan and RP Ravichandran, convicts who are serving life imprisonment in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE suicide bomber Dhanu on May 21 while campaigning during the 1991 General elections In Sriperumbudur 50 kms near then Madras
Tamil Nadu government in its affidavit said that its 2018 aid and advice for the remission of their life sentence is binding upon the governor.
Nalini and Ravichandran have approached the apex court seeking release from the prison-like fellow convict AG Perarivalan.
Tamil Nadu government said that in the cabinet meeting held on September 9, 2018, it had considered mercy petitions of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and resolved to recommend the governor for the remission of their life sentences invoking the power granted under Article 161 of the Constitution.
It said, “The said recommendation in respect of seven life convict petitioners was sent to the then governor of Tamil Nadu individually for approval on September 11 and the same was pending with his office since then.”
The law relating to the power of the governor under Article 161 of the Constitution and the power of the state government in dealing with the offences (302 of IPC) falls within the exclusive domain of the state government and is also well settled, said Tamil Nadu.
The state government said that it is the competent authority to take a decision on the petition filed by Nalini and Ravichandran under Article 161 of the Constitution and “the decision of the state cabinet dated September 9, 2018, thereon is final and it can be exercised by governor of Tamil Nadu as per the aid and advice of the cabinet”.
The recommendation of the state government remitting the life sentence of the petitioner was sent to the governor of Tamil Nadu for approval on September 11, 2018, and the same was kept pending with his office for more than two and half years and the recommendation was finally forwarded by the governor to the president on January 27, 2021, and it still remains undecided for the past one year and nine months, it said.
