The Supreme Court’s verdict on the release of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins is out. The state of Tamil Nadu will not get a say in granting remission to convicts under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In cases such as these, which are registered under central law and probed by central agencies like the CBI, the Centre will have primacy. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins, therefore, will languish in jail.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu, who will demit office today, to deal with questions raised by a smaller bench while staying the state government’s decision to set free seven convicts in the sensational case.
The bench, comprising justices FMI Kalifulla, Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, Abhay Manohar Sapre and UU Lalit, had reserved the judgement on August 12 after 11 days of hearing the arguments advanced by Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the Centre, and others including senior advocates Ram Jethmalani and Rakesh Dwivedi, representing V Sriharan alias Murugan, one of the seven convicts, and the Tamil Nadu government respectively.
The court dealt with seven issues framed by the smaller bench on the scope of the Executive’s power of remission.
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