The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the curative pleas filed by the then UPA government against dismissal of the review petitions challenging the commutation of the death penalty awarded in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
“We have gone through the curative petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra & Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed,” a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu said.
The brief decision of the bench, also comprising Justices T.S. Thakur, A.R. Dave, Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh, came on the curative pleas filed by the then UPA government against dismissal of the review petitions.
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The review pleas, challenging the commutation of death penalty to life term of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, were dismissed by the court in February last year on the ground of 11-year delay in deciding on their mercy petitions.
The three convicts are lodged in a Vellore prison. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.