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Release of Rajiv Gandhi killers halted
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India’s top court yesterday blocked the release of three of former premier Rajiv Gandhi’s killers after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denounced their freeing as against all principles of justice.
They were among seven Tamil extremists due to leave prison by this weekend after the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state on Wednesday ordered their release, sparking uproar.
Announcing legal action against the move, Singh rejected any right to freedom, saying Gandhi’s 1991 assassination by a female suicide bomber was an attack on the nation’s soul.
“The assassination of Shri (honorific) Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India,” Singh said in a statement yesterday. “No government or party should be soft in our fight against terrorism,” he added.
“The release of the killers of a former prime minister of India and our great leader, as well as several other innocent Indians, would be contrary to all principles of justice.”
A Supreme Court bench ordered the Tamil Nadu government to maintain the “status quo” for three of the seven until it examined the issue.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, said while Tamil Nadu in the country’s south had the right to release the prisoners, it was concerned about “procedural lapses.”
The court said the Congress-led national government could file a fresh petition for the remaining four who are serving life sentences, although it was unclear if this could halt their release by the weekend.
Government lawyer Ashok Bhan, who was involved in the case, told NDTV that Tamil Nadu was unlikely to go ahead with releasing the four given the “mood of the court.”
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had ordered the seven’s release a day after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence handed down on three over their role in the assassination in her state.
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