Welcome Supreme Court Decision To Free Rajiv Gandhi’s Killers: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, praised the Supreme Court’s decision to free six prisoners, including Nalini Sriharan, who was convicted in the killing of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. “I welcome the Supreme Court Verdict on the release of six persons,” Stalin said in a tweet on Friday.

The supreme court’s decision was praised by Mr. Stalin, who declared that it was “a historic blow to the ideology of democracy.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling, he claimed, “is evidence that the decisions and decisions of the government elected by the people should not be buried by the governors in the appointed posts.”

DMK, which has held positions in both opposition and government, has consistently advocated for the release of these individuals, he continued.

In the murder of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Nalini Sriharan and five others were given life sentences. The SC released them on the basis that they had been excellent inmates.

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was killed at a public rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, by a female suicide bomber from the LTTE organisation.

Due to their involvement in the murder, the seven prisoners received death sentences. They were Robert Payas, AG Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan, Nalini Sriharan, and RP Ravichandran.

Nalini Sriharan’s sentence was commuted to a life imprisonment in 2000. Later in 2014, the sentences of the remaining six defendants were similarly reduced, and that same year, J. Jayalalitha, who was then Tamil Nadu’s chief minister, urged the release of all seven defendants in the case.One of the seven prisoners, AG Perarivalan, was freed from prison in May of this year after serving 31 years.

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