Decision to free Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts not acceptable, says Congress

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 11

The Congress today described as “unacceptable and completely erroneous” the decision of the SC to free the remaining convicts in former PM Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and “disagreed” with former party president Sonia Gandhi whose appeal helped in the commutation of the death sentence of convict Nalini Sriharan.

Wholly untenable

The Congress criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable. It is most unfortunate that the SC has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India. — Jairam Ramesh, Congress

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met Nalini in the prison.

Asserting that Sonia was entitled to her personal views, senior lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the stand of the party had been consistent on this over the years and it would take “all available remedies, be it a review or any other form of legal redress” on the matter.

“We will exercise whatever legal rights we have. We owe it not only to the people of this country but also to the Supreme Court and the legacy it has built,” Singhvi said, asserting that the decision had “shocked the nation’s conscience”.

On Sonia and Priyanka’s public stance on the issue, he said: “We are consistent. It is an institutional matter. This is not politics. Sonia Gandhi is entitled to her views but the party doesn’t agree with that view. We respect that view,” Singhvi said.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining convicts “totally unacceptable and completely erroneous”. “The Congress criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable. It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue,” he said.

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