Facing criticism from the Congress, the government last week moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order for premature release of convicts.
The Congress will file a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging its order releasing six convicts of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, PTI quoted party sources as saying on Monday. The petition will be filed this week, they said.
“A fresh review application challenging the Supreme Court decision to release the convicts on the grounds set out in the order will be filed on behalf of the party in the next few days,” a party insider told PTI.
Facing criticism from the Congress, the government last week moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order for premature release of the convicts in the case.
On November 11, the Supreme Court set free Nalini Sriharan and five other remaining convicts who were serving life term for about three decades in the case, noting that its earlier order releasing convict A G Perarivalan was equally applicable to them.
The top court ordered the premature release of the six convicts after holding that all of them are deemed to have served their sentence in relation to the crime. The former prime minister was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber named Dhanu at a poll rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on the night of May 21, 1991.
Besides Nalini, the five others to be released were R P Ravichandran, Nalini's husband V Sriharan alias Murugan, Santhan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar. Sriharan, Santhan, Robert and Jayakumar are Sri Lankan nationals.
The Congress termed as "totally unacceptable and completely erroneous" the apex court order and said it has shocked the nation's conscience.
The party also said it disagreed with former party chief Sonia Gandhi, whose appeal helped in the commutation of death sentence of Nalini in 2000. It asserted that the party's stand had been consistent on this over the years despite the statements of the Gandhi family as it considers this an "institutional matter".
(With PTI inputs)
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 "Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts - File Photo")
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