NEW DELHI, Feb 20:
The seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will not be able to immediately walk out of jail with the Supreme Court today citing “procedural lapses” by the Tamil Nadu Government which decided to release them.
The immediate effect of the apex court’s order was on three prisoners— Murugan, Santhan and Arivu— whose death sentence was commutted to life on February 18 by it as the Centre’s petition mentioned only their names but a Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam allowed it to file a seperate application on the remaining four prisoners.
As the apex court has raised questions and agreed to examine in detail the procedure adopted by the State Government in deciding to release them, the seven convicts will remain in jail till further orders.
“Issue notice to the State of Tamil Nadu, Inspector General of Prisons, Chennai, the Superintendent of Central Prison, Vellore and the convicts viz. V Sriharan @ Murugan, T Suthendraraja @ Santhan and A G Perarivalan @ Arivu returnable on March 6, 2014,” the Bench said adding “Till such date, both parties are directed to maintain status quo prevailing as on date in respect of the convicts”.
The Bench, also comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana, at the begining of proceedings expressed surprise on how the State Government claimed to have fulfilled all the procedures within a day after the apex court commuted the death sentence of three prisoners.
“The commutation of death sentence into life cannot automatically lead to their release,” the Bench observed and said State cannot abrogate the procedures required under the law.
“Our judgement was pronounced on Tuesday morning and it was available at 5pm and the newspaper reports came out only on Wednesday,” the Bench said while spelling out the procedures required for release of the convicts.
“There are several procedural steps required to be followed and an application has to be filed before a presiding judge of a competent court for remitting sentence which was not done,” it said.
Solicitor General Mohan Parasarn then said the procedures were not followed and the decision was taken in a hurry by the State Government.
Parasaran said the state government was not authorised to deal with the release of convicts as they were held guilty under the Central laws.
The court after hearing his arguments said that all procedural checks laid down in the law have not been followed by the State Government and it will examine the issue raised by the Centre.
Making it clear that it is not taking away the power of the State Government to remit sentence, the Bench, at the same time, said the States have to follow the procedures.
“We are concerned about the procedural lapses and we will examine the issue,” the Bench said, adding that “all States are bound to follow the procedure”.
Senior advocate Rakesh Diwedi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, strongly opposed the plea of Centre saying that the State Governemnt has not taken a final decision on teh issue.
The Bench, however, brushed aside his contention saying that newspaper reports said that the Chief Minister made statement regarding this on teh floor of the assembly.
“We are not underestimating the power of State Government but we are examining the procedure followed by it,” the Bench said when the State Government pleaded the court not to pass any order on staying the release of the prisoners.
The Bench also said that the commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment cannot automatically result in remission of the sentence and the proper procedure laid down in the law has to be follow before releasing the prisoners from jail.
The Bench posted the matter for hearing on March 6.
Earlier in the day, the Centre moved the apex court seeking a stay on Tamil Nadu government’s decision to release the convicts in the case and the court agreed to hear it.
Parasaran said the State Government should not be allowed to release the prisoners till the apex court decided its review petition challenging commutation of death sentence of three condemned prisoners to life imprisonment on ground of delay in deciding mercy petitions.
The Jayalalithaa Government had yesterday decided to set free all seven convicts in the assassination case.
Besides Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, who earned a major reprieve on February 18 from the apex court which spared them from gallows, Nalini, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran are the other four convicts whose release was decided by the Tamil Nadu Government.
Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan are currently lodged in the Central Prison, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu and they are in incarceration since 1991.
The other four are undergoing life sentence for their role in the assassination of Gandhi on May 21, 1991 in Sriperumbudur.
The apex court had commuted the death sentence of Murugan, Santhan (both Sri Lankan Tamils) and Perarivalan on the ground of 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.
Gandhi’s assassins were convicted by a TADA court in January 1998 and were awarded death sentence, which was confirmed by the apex court May 11, 1999. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel