Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: SC gives no relief to assassins, refers case to Constitution bench

The Supreme Court on Friday referred the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to a Constitution Bench.

The apex court said in its interim order that the staying of the Tamil Nadu Government's decision on remission of sentence will continue.

The assassins will remain in jail for now. The apex court has framed seven questions for the Constitution Bench to decide on the issue of remission.

The Constitution Bench, which will be set up in three months, will decide whether the sentence of a prisoner, whose death penalty has been commuted to life, can be remitted by the government.

The apex court was considering the Centre's petition challenging the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to release all seven convicts serving life terms in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The court had in February commuted the death penalty of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins to life imprisonment on grounds of delay in deciding their mercy plea.

The Centre had in March told the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu government's decision to grant remission of sentence to the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was selective and in derogation of the rights of the victims.