On 17th November 2022, in opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision to release all convicts in the killing of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Center filed a review petition with the top court. On November 11, the court released Nalini Sriharan and the five other remaining prisoners who had been serving life sentences for almost thirty years, stating that the previous decision freeing AG Perarivalan also applied to them.
It is notable that, on May 18, a panel of Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna, exercising its exceptional authority under Article 142 of the Constitution, ruled in favor of Perarivalan, who had spent more than 30 years in prison.
The center has asked for this review petition on grounds that the center wasn’t heard on the matter by the Supreme Court despite this being the case of the murder of a former Prime Minister of India. The center is contending as to why it was not made a party in this case when its top office bearer was the victim in this incident that took place on 21st May 1991.
The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered the release of Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran, convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who were serving life sentences. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna accepted the petitions of the jailed convicts saying that their conduct in the prison has been found satisfactory, and they have been in prison for a long time
Along with the two, the court also ordered the premature release of four other prisoners convicted in the case. They are Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar, and Robert Payas. Another jailed convict AG Perarivalan was released from jail earlier this year. All of them have spent over three decades in jail after their arrests in 1991.
Along with former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi, 14 others also died in the explosion apart from the suicide bomber Thenmozhi Rajaratnam aka Dhanu.