M A I N   N E W S

Centre pleads in SC against TN decision on Rajiv killers
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 6
The Centre today pleaded in the Supreme Court against the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to immediately release all the seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by granting them remission, contending that this tantamount to denial of justice to the victims and their families.

“As many as 18 innocent lives were lost and more than 200 persons injured” in the blast triggered by an LTTE human bomb at an election meeting scheduled to be addressed by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, the Centre said in an affidavit filed in the SC.

The Central government was “duty bound” to protect the rights of the victims and their families, the affidavit said, citing a 2010 SC verdict by a Constitution Bench in a case involving West Bengal and the Commission for Protection of Democratic Rights, an NGO. In that case, the SC had underlined the need for protecting the rights of the victims going by the fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under the Constitution.

In view of this, the “hasty and mala fide” act of the Tamil Nadu government in moving for remission “is in derogation and breach of Article 21,” the Centre contended. This argument should be treated as an additional point to its writ petition, challenging the state government’s move, it said.

Meanwhile, a Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam adjourned the hearing in the case for March 26 as the Centre sought time to file its reply to the state government’s response. The state has opposed the Centre’s plea, contending that the Centre had no right to file a writ petition in the matter.

The state government decided to release the life convicts - Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Nalini, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran - following the SC verdict on February 20, commuting the death sentence awarded to the first three convicts on account of the delay in the disposal of their mercy pleas by the President.