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All seven convicted of Rajiv Gandhi assassination to be freed All seven convicted of Rajiv Gandhi assassination to be freed
(6 months later)
All seven people jailed for killing the Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi are to be released, according to reports.All seven people jailed for killing the Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi are to be released, according to reports.
The decision was announced on Wednesday morning, a day after India’s supreme court lifted death The decision was announced on Wednesday morning, a day after India’s supreme court lifted death sentences from three men convicted in the assassination of Gandhi in 1991. The court commuted the sentences to life and said the government could not indefinitely keep people on death row – it has been 16 years since they were sentenced and three years since they filed mercy petitions.
sentences from three men convicted in the assassination of Gandhi in 1991. The In its judgment the Indian supreme court said the government of Tamil Nadu state where the attack occurred could decide whether or not to release the three men.
court commuted the sentences to life and said the government could not indefinitely keep people on death row – it has been 16 years since they were sentenced and three years since they filed mercy On Wednesday, the state’s chief minister, J Jayalalitha, reportedly decided at an emergency cabinet meeting in Chennai to release all seven of those convicted of Gandhi’s assassination, four of whom were serving life sentences.
petitions. The decision had been expected, but not so swiftly, and the central government, led by Gandhi’s own Congress party – his widow Sonia Gandhi is the party’s president – now has the opportunity to respond.
In “The supreme court has rendered the verdict, which should be respected,” Kapil Sibal, a Congress party minister, told India’s CNN-IBN news channel.
its judgment the Indian supreme court said the government of The case is sure to revive a debate on India’s death penalty and whether or not it is being applied consistently. In November 2012, a Kashmiri terror suspect, Afzal Guru, who maintained his innocence, was put to death by the government, sparking massive protests in his home state.
Tamil Nadu state where the attack occurred could decide whether or not to release
the three men.
On Wednesday, the state’s chief minister, J
Jayalalitha, reportedly decided at an emergency cabinet meeting in Chennai to
release all seven of those convicted of Gandhi’s
assassination, four of whom were serving life sentences.
The decision had been expected, but not so swiftly, and the central government, led by Gandhi’s own Congress
party – his widow Sonia Gandhi is the party’s president – now has the
opportunity to respond.
“The supreme court has rendered the verdict, which
should be respected,” Kapil Sibal, a Congress party minister,
told India’s CNN-IBN news channel.
The case is sure to revive a debate on India’s
death penalty and whether or not it is being applied consistently. In
November 2012, a Kashmiri terror suspect, Afzal Guru, who maintained
his innocence, was put to death by the government, sparking massive
protests in his home state.