The Madras High Court on Wednesday modified certain paragraphs in its June 17 order, refusing to order the release of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts S. Nalini and R.P. Ravichandran. The modifications were made at the instance of the State government, which pointed out that certain attributions had been made to it inadvertently.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala modified the paragraphs that indicated as if the State government had supported the Governor’s action of having referred to the President the September 2018 State Cabinet recommendation to release all seven convicts involved in the assassination.
In the modification application, the government pointed out that it had been its consistent stand that the issue of remission of sentence of the seven convicts squarely fell within Article 161 of the Constitution and, therefore, only the Governor could exercise such power on the basis of the Cabinet’s recommendation.
