Rajiv Gandhi was killed while campaigning in Tamil Nadu by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). (File photo AP)
Highlights
- Govt has to decide on releasing my father's killers: Rahul Gandhi
- Tamil Nadu has decided to free 7 of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins
- Tamil Nadu writes to Centre asking its view,state goes to polls this year
Whether his father Rajiv Gandhi's killers should be released from jail is a decision to be taken by the government, Rahul Gandhi said today, adding: "I will not give my personal opinion on this."
The Tamil Nadu government has decided to release the seven people serving life term for the assassination of the former prime minister in 1991 by a suicide bomber, and written to the Centre asking for its opinion.
Home ministry sources say no decision has been taken yet.
The Jayalalithaa government has said that all the convicts have spent over 20 years in jail.
Its decision comes as the state goes to polls later this year; in the state, the case is linked to Tamil sentiment and all regional parties have campaigned for the convicts' release.
In 2014, the Centre moved court after the Jayalalithaa government announced that it would release the convicts and gave it three days to respond. It was seen as a populist move by the state in the months before the national election.
The Supreme Court said in December that Tamil Nadu cannot free the convicts without consulting the Centre as the case was investigated by the CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation.
Three assassins - Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan - were spared execution because of an exceptional delay in a decision on their mercy plea. Four others, including Murugan's wife Nalini Sriharan, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran are serving life terms.
Nalini, who was earlier on death row, was granted mercy on the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The Tamil Nadu government had argued in court that a convict in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, Gopal Vinayakram Godse, had been released in 1964 after being sentenced to a life term. Vinayakram Godse was the brother of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.
In its latest letter, Tamil Nadu has not given a three-day deadline to the Centre like it did the last time.
Rahul Gandhi declined to comment but his Congress party said in Parliament today that "the government cannot allow the convicts' release in national interest."
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said: "They are convicted under criminal laws. Talking of their release is very unfortunate."