By passing an order that stays the release of former India prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, the Indian Supreme Court has reasserted its superiority over the Tamil Nadu government’s eccentric decision to release them. Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally in Sriperumbedur on May 21, 1991. Fourteen other people also lost their lives in the blast. The Jayalalithaa government had on February 19 decided to set free all the seven convicts in the assassination case. If the release order on those convicted of plotting to assassinate the former prime minister of a country had been passed then there would be very little for the common man to expect in terms of justice against heinous crimes committed.
The Supreme Court’s decision in this case applies a welcome amount of level-headedness and rationality to the proceedings that have so far taken place. The Tamil Nadu government’s decision to free the convicts is less of a humanitarian response and more of a political manoeuvre given that the elections are around the corner.
Proper procedures must now be adopted to ensure that the matter is put to rest.
