Madras High Court Has Issued Notice On A Petition To Release The Assassins Of Rajiv Gandhi
Madras High Court
Highlights
- The Madras High Court issued notice to the Central and State governments in response to a petition by Nalini Sriharan.
- She asked the court to order the State government to release all seven defendants in the case without waiting for the Governor's approval.
On Friday, the Madras High Court issued notice to the Central and State governments in response to a petition by Nalini Sriharan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who requested that all of them be released without waiting for the Tamil Nadu Governor's approval.
Along with Nalini,Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran, and Robert Payas together are serving life sentences for assassinating the previous Prime Minister during a political rally close there in May 1991. She asked the court to order the State government to release all seven defendants in the case without waiting for the Governor's approval.
While the previous AIADMK government, led by K Palaniswami, had urged to Governor Banwarilal Purohit to examine and order the release of all seven offenders in a resolution dated September 9, 2018.
Nalini and the others have filed several writs and habeas corpus petitions with the Governor, requesting that he consider their plea and order their release. The High Court, on the other hand, had declined to give the Governor any such directive.
The plea was heard today by the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu, who issued notice to the State and Central governments, with a four-week deadline.
Nalini sought to have the Governor's inaction and failure to follow the State's suggestion declared illegal in her current appeal. She begged for a clear directive to the state administration to free the prisoners without the need for the Governor's consent.
According to her, around 3,800 life offenders who had served 10 years or less in jail were released under Article 161 of the Constitution.
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