DMK president M.K. Stalin on Thursday urged Governor Banwarilal Purohit to accept the recommendation of the State Cabinet and remit the life sentence of all seven convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
In a letter, a copy of which has been sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Mr. Stalin said the seven convicts — Nalini, V. Sriharan alias Murugan, Santhan, A.G. Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and P. Ravichandran — had been undergoing the agony of imprisonment for about three decades.
Pointing out that under Article 161 of the Constitution, the Governor had the power to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of a person convicted of an offence, under any law, Mr. Stalin said this important Cabinet recommendation had been kept pending, without a decision, for over two years.
He said the delay had caused grave and irreparable hardship to the convicts. “It is trite in law that a Constitutional authority performs his duty within a reasonable time frame. The Supreme Court has, in many cases, held that undue delay in exercising powers under the Constitution is illegal and the court may then issue directions to the authority,” he said.
Mr. Stalin also recalled the Supreme Court’s direction to the Tamil Nadu government, asking whether any decision had been taken about their release.
“The fact that a recommendation of the State Cabinet has been kept pending for over two years by your office reflects poorly on the State and gives the impression that the State is not run in accordance with law,” he said in his letter to the Governor.
CPI(M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan also demanded their release, pointing to the direction of the Supreme Court in this regard.
