Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: Centre files review petition in SC against release of all convicts

New Delhi: Centre on Thursday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the 11 November order allowing the release of all convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

On 11 November, the Supreme Court ordered the release of six convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, after the Tamil Nadu government recommended their remission in 2016. The release of the convicts has been met with a backlash.

The Centre said the order granting remission to the convicts, who had assassinated the former prime minister, was passed without affording it an adequate opportunity for hearing despite it being a necessary party to the case.

The government highlighted the alleged procedural lapse, saying the convicts seeking remission did not formally implead the Centre as a party which resulted in its non-participation in the case.

“Thus absence of any assistance by the Union of India, due to procedural lapse of convicts/petitioners, while the present matter was being finally heard and decided has prevented this Court from appreciating the crucial and important evidence in the matter, which if presented, would have assisted this court to arrive at a just and correct judgment in the matter,” it said.

Gandhi assassinated by LTTE

Gandhi who was the PM of India from 31 October 1984 to 2 December 1989 was assassinated by a suicide bomber belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 21 May 1991 in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur. At least 14 others were also killed in the attack.

Gandhi was on a poll campaign at the time of the assassination.

With inputs from agencies

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