Rajiv Gandhi assassination: SC expresses unhappiness over pendency of convict’s plea for pardon

We don't want to exercise our jurisdiction at this stage but we are not happy that recommendation made by the government is pending for two years, said the SC bench

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the fact that the Tamil Nadu government's recommendation for remission of the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was pending with the Governor for over two years.

"We don’t want to exercise our jurisdiction, but we are not happy with how this recommendation has been pending for two years," a bench, presided over by Justice L Nageswara Rao, said.

"We want the Governor to pass orders. Inform us what can be done in such situations where Governor makes such recommendations. What is it the court can do in such cases? Can we ask the Governor to do that as has been done in earlier cases," the bench asked senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayana.

The court also asked the counsel, appearing for one of the convicts, A G Perarivalan, to tell what the laws were that could allow it to exercise its jurisdiction.

Posting the plea for parole filed by Perarivalan for consideration on November 25, the bench suggested the counsel go through the Shatrughan Chauhan case and do some research to enable the court to pass its order.

Sankaranarayana said the remission file was pending after the recommendation of the state government for more than two years now. He said the petitioner wanted parole because of multiple co-morbid illnesses and high chances of getting Covid-19 infection in the prison.

"We have no option but to approach this court now," he said.

During the hearing, the court asked Tamil Nadu's Additional Advocate General Balaji Srinivasan, "Why is the Governor taking so much time?"

To this, Srinivasan said this was a case of a larger conspiracy and the Governor was waiting for a report from the CBI.

Notably, the CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) was probing into unravelling a larger conspiracy into the case.

The bench, however, reminded him that larger conspiracy only dealt with whether other persons were involved.

Sankaranarayanan, however, said he would file a compilation of cases.

In Nilofer Nisha case, it was a batch of cases arising out of a remission notification and the court exercised their powers under 142 to release the prisoners. As far as remission is concerned, it is the prerogative of the Governor and is not under the Criminal Procedure Code, he said.