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Lawyers will file review petition in Rajiv case

Lawyers for those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case today announced that they would file a review petition before the Supreme Court within the stipulated 30 days after the pronouncement of the judgment.

The apex court had on May 11, confirmed the death sentence of four of the accused -- Nalini, her husband Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan -- and commuted the sentence on three others to life imprisonment, while acquitting 19 others. The trial court had awarded death penalty to all the 26 accused.

Addressing a press conference in Madras, senior counsel N Natarajan, S Doraisamy and others said they were also examining the possibility of filing writ petitions in connection with the case.

The courts as also the jail authorities were being informed about their intention to explore all avenues of relief, including review petition and an appeal for presidential clemency as the last resort so that the jail authorities did not execute the four accused in haste, they said.

According to the jail manual, a prisoner awarded death penalty should be executed within 21 days after the appellate court confirmed the conviction, unless a judicial process was set in motion.

UNI

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