The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear all the petitions pertaining to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on March 6, including the plea of the families of victims of the 1991 blast in which the ex-prime minister was killed.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, said it would hear the plea of the victims’ families along with the Centre’s plea against the release of the seven convicts, which was ordered by the Tamil Nadu government, on March 6.
The petition was filed by a group of persons, including Abbas and John Joesph, family members of the victims, a local Congress politician Americai Narayanan and three others.
Questioning the state government’s decision to release the prisoners, the petitioners said the clemency power wasvested with the Governor and the President under the Constitution and how could remission power be granted to a state.
The court had earlier restrained the state government from releasing the convicts.
It had directed the state government to maintain status quo and said it would hear the Centre’s plea against the decision to release all the seven convicts on March 6.
The Centre has opposed the commutation of death sentence to the convicts.