The Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
Source: By The Indian Express
The Supreme Court on 11 November 2022 ordered the premature release of all six remaining convicts – including Nalini Sriharan – who were serving life sentences in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Convicts R P Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar were also ordered to be released. The bench in its order took note of the case of A G Perarivalan, the seventh convict, who was released in May.
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of 21 May 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna said the May 2022 judgment of the top court in the case of A G Perarivalan was applicable here as well. Invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court had on 18 May ordered his release after he served over 30 years in jail.
What was the basis for the release?
The TADA or Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act trial court had initially sentenced 26 people to death in the case. In 1999, a few years after the TADA Act was allowed to lapse, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of only seven people, releasing all others. The SC order observed none of those convicted was part of the nucleus of the assassination team.
Of the seven convicts serving life terms in the case, in 1999, the Supreme Court sentenced four of them to death and the other three to life imprisonment. In 2000, the death sentence of one, Nalini, was commuted to life. In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted the remaining three death sentences, including that of Perarivalan.
While hearing convict A G Perarivalan’s plea on the delay in deciding his plea for remission, the SC had said in September 2018 that the Tamil Nadu Governor had the right to decide on his petition. Within days, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, headed by then chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, had recommended the release of all seven convicts. But Raj Bhavan chose to sit on it.
On 22 January 2021, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu Governor was set to take a call on the release. Then, on 25 January, the Governor’s office left it to President Ram Nath Kovind to take a decision on the pardon of all these convicts. The Centre told the court “the proposal received by the central government will be processed in accordance with the law”.
But in May this year, Perarivalan was “set at liberty forthwith” by the Supreme Court, which used its extraordinary powers “for doing complete justice” under Article 142 of the Constitution.
Who is Nalini, convicted in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case?
Nalini Murugan: The daughter of a nurse and a police officer in Chennai and a graduate of a prominent Chennai college, Nalini is now in her mid-fifties. Among the seven convicts, she was the only one present at the assassination spot in Sriperumbudur where Gandhi was killed. Later, photographs showed Nalini with the alleged assassins before Rajiv Gandhi’s arrival.
After the killing, Nalini and her husband Murugan, another accused, left Chennai and hid out in various places for more than a month until their arrest. Nalini was then pregnant. Their daughter was later born and raised in prison until age five.
Nalini and Murugan have never met their daughter after she left prison and was raised by another family, said Nalini’s counsel M Radhakrishnan. The Supreme Court verdict in 1999 observed that Nalini was an obedient participant with no key evidence to establish she was part of the conspiracy. “… She wouldn’t have dared to retreat from the scene as she was tucked into the tentacles of the conspiracy octopus from where it was impossible for a woman like Nalini to get herself extricated,” it said.
The Supreme Court in a majority order sentenced her to death but in 2000, the sentence was commuted to life following a plea by Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv’s wife.
And who are the other convicts freed by Supreme Court?
R P Ravichandran: An Indian national who was close to the Tamil Eelam movement in the 1980s, Ravichandran is said to have had close links with Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE) leaders before the armed group was actually formed.
Prosecution charges said Ravichandran had visited Sri Lanka several times in the mid-1980s via sea. In fact, several leading politicians from Tamil Nadu also visited LTTE strongholds in Sri Lanka during the period. However, conspiracy charges against Ravichandran were struck down in 1999 by the SC, which also suspended TADA provisions from the case.
Santhan: A Sri Lankan citizen. According to court documents, Santhan is believed to have fled then strife-torn Sri Lanka in 1991 and reached India by boat, along with Sivarasan (who led the assassination team and was never caught alive) and a few others. According to the Supreme Court order, his role in the killing was direct and active. He was one of those initially sentenced to death — along with Perarivalan, Nalini and Murugan — before their sentences were commuted to life.
Murugan: Nalini once recalled that Murugan was one among many Sri Lankan youth who fled the country and reached Chennai, hoping to go abroad. He was her brother’s friend, and stayed at their home briefly. Nalini’s first meeting with Sivarasan was through Murugan.
Robert Payas: Another Sri Lankan citizen, Robert Payas, now 55, had come to India with his wife and sisters in September 1990. He is believed to have had links with the militant group LTTE. Payas was also accused of a close association with Sivarasan. While the court took note of his involvement in the conspiracy, it observed he was also a man who faced atrocities from the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka and had lost a child in that period.
Jayakumar: Brother-in-law of Payas, Jayakumar reached India along with Payas. The prosecution accused him of serious involvement in the killing, citing his close association with Sivarasan. Jayakumar was also a victim of alleged atrocities during IPKF action in Sri Lanka.
Perarivalan: He was 19 when he was arrested in June 1991. He was accused of having bought two battery cells for Sivarasan. During the probe, one piece of evidence was a decoded radio message sent on 7 May 1991 by Sivarasan to LTTE leader Pottu Amman in Sri Lanka: “Our intention is not known to anybody except us three.”
While conspiracy charges against many others including Nalini and Ravichandran were dismissed by the Supreme Court, it upheld the conspiracy charges against Perarivalan as the Bench found it “believable” due to his TADA confession statement, which was taken by a CBI SP in custody.
What is Article 142 of the Constitution?
Subsection 1 of Article 142 (“Enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc.”) says “the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe.”
Essentially, this provision of the Constitution gives the country’s top court-wide powers to do “complete justice” in a case.
