SC restrains States on giving remission to life convicts

July 09, 2014 05:48 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 01:55 am IST - New Delhi

Nalini, a life convict in the assasination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, being taken to a court from the Vellore prison. File photo.

Nalini, a life convict in the assasination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, being taken to a court from the Vellore prison. File photo.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained all State governments from releasing life convicts exercising their remission powers.

A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice R.M. Lodha and Justices J.S. Khehar, J. Chelameswar, A.K. Sikri and Rohinton Nariman passed the restraint order till July 22, when the matter relating to the release of life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case would be taken up for hearing. The Bench, after hearing Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, also issued notices to the States seeking their response by July 18 to seven questions, including whether they could exercise their remission power under Section 435 Cr.P.C., even in a case investigated by the CBI, as had been done by the Tamil Nadu government. On February 19, the Tamil Nadu Government passed an order proposing remission of life imprisonment imposed on seven life convicts involved in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The Centre filed a petition challenging the release. On February 20, the court directed the Tamil Nadu government to maintain status quo on its decision to release the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.