A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu of the Supreme Court strongly objected Tamilnadu government’s decision of considering mercy petitions filed by murderers of Rajiv Gandhi, who were convicted with life term. The apex court stated on Wednesday that states can’t take such decisions nor have powers for it. It stated that states have power to grant remission, but they cannot exercise it suo motu. Only Central government has the right to grant remission to convicts in cases handled by Central agencies like CBI.

Earlier on 2014, February 20th Tamilnadu state government decides to release three convicts-Murugan, Santhan and Arivu, whose death sentence had been commuted to life term by it. Later, it also planned to release four other convicts- Nalini, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran. But, the apex court stayed their releases. Today, the court categorically stated that they can’t be released without obtaining permission from Central government.

Responding to the apex court’s notices, Central government made it clear that the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did not deserve any mercy. They need to face the punishment accorded to them by the apex court as they all took part in the assassination conspired by a foreign national. Rajeev Gandhi was brutally assassinated on May 21, 1991 in Sri Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, by suicide bomber belongs to LTTE militant group. .