CM Stalin Appeals President To Release Convicts Of Rajiv Gandhi Case

M.K.Stalin writes to President Ram Nath Kovind to remit all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday requesting to accept the state government’s recommendation in September 2018 and pass the order to release the life sentences of all the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. M.K.Stalin said,  the convicts - S. Nalini, Murugan, Santhan, A.G. Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, and P. Ravichandran – be released as they have been undergoing the agony of imprisonment for about three decades. The copies of this letter were released yesterday to all the media houses.

 

The Chief Minister pointed out, “These seven persons have already suffered untold hardship and agony in the past three decades and have paid a heavy price. There has already been an inordinate delay in the consideration of their pleas for remission. In the present circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, Courts are also recognizing the need to decongest prisons”, he said.

He stated further, Nalini's original death sentence was commuted under Article 161 of the Constitution, while Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of the other three convicts to that life imprisonment.

 

“The majority of the political parties in Tamil Nadu have been requesting for the remission of the remainder of their sentence and for the immediate release of all the 7 convicts as they have been incarcerated for about three decades. It is also the will of the people of Tamil Nadu”, he recalled.

 

State’s plea to Governor

On 9.9.2018, the Government of Tamil Nadu had recommended to the Governor of Tamil Nadu for the remission of the rest of the sentence for all seven convicts and their early release. The purported obstacle for the exercise of the power of remission was the pendency of the investigation by the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency of CBI.

“It has been clarified by the respective stands of the Union Government and CBI before the Supreme Court that there is no connection between the remission of the sentence and investigation,” he pointed.

Governor has decided that the President of India is the competent authority to decide on the plea of remission of sentence of these seven persons, and therefore he has forwarded the State Government's recommendation to President’s office, he added.