He said that the Supreme Court verdict is a reminder that the governor should act on the recommendation of the cabinet.
Chennai:
The Supreme Court’s decision to release six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan, in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case is a matter of happiness, her lawyer P Pugalenthi said on Friday.
“Magizchi”, the lawyer said when seeking his response on the Supreme Court-ordered release. The Tamil word denotes happiness or a state of gaiety and happiness.
“The Supreme Court verdict is a reminder that the governor should act on the recommendation of the cabinet and release the prisoners,” he told PTI.
The 1981 judgment of the Supreme Court made it clear that the power to exempt and release prisoners is vested with the state government under Article 161 of the Constitution. Therefore the governor is duty bound to support the decision of the cabinet. He said, “Therefore, Article 161 makes it clear. The word Governor should be read simply as State Government and the Supreme Court made it very clear.”
He said that though the Tamil Nadu cabinet had decided to release the seven convicts in 2018, the Center had withheld their release due to political reasons. “We can say that all these years they were in illegal confinement, violating the Constitution.”
Late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa initiated the due process for the release of seven convicts in the Rajiv case in 2014 and later the matter went to the Supreme Court, which acquitted Perarivalan in May this year.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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