Rajiv assassination case: Centre files review petition in SC

The Centre today moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its judgement commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment of three convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case on the ground of delay in deciding their mercy plea.
The review petition was filed hours after the apex court blocked the the decision of Tamil Nadu government to release Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, who had got relief on Tuesday from an apex court bench headed by chief justice P Sathasivam.
In a hurridly-filed petition, the Centre contended the three-judge bench, also comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and S K Singh, did not consider the merits of the case and also ventured into the domain of government by commuting the death sentence in the case.

It further contended the February 18 judgement was passed without juridiction by the three-judge bench instead by a larger bench of five judges as the case involved substantial interpretation of law and provisions of the constitution.
"It is respectfully submitted that the impugned judgment is patently illegal, suffers from errors apparent on the face of the record and flies in the face of well-established principles of law laid down by this Court and contained in the constitution and other statutes," the petition said.
"It is submitted that in the present case, the issue raised was that of the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of delay, which allegedly attracted Article 21 in favour of the convicts. Therefore, it involved a substantial issue of interpretation of the constitution and ought to have been heard by a bench of five judges, as mandated by the Constitution," the petition said.