Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s request to release the seven prisoners convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991.
Kovind conveyed to the State government that the “Centre doesn’t concur with its view” to release the prisoners.
The President is bound by the advice of his Council of Ministers in such matters. In the last four years, the State government has written twice to the Home Ministry to pardon the convicts and release them on humanitarian grounds.
On February 14, following the Supreme Court’s directions, the Home Ministry sought details on eight grounds from the State to “facilitate further” its request to release the convicts.
It asked the State to furnish details such as the “physical and mental status of the convicts,” their “economic and social background” and the previous cases registered against them.
On January 23, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court gave three months to the Home Ministry to decide on Tamil Nadu’s proposal to remit the sentences of the life-term convicts.
