The Tamil Nadu government has given an ordinary leave of 30 days to P. Ravichandran, one of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. This is the sixth time that Ravichandran has got a leave during his 29 years of jail term.
The government has granted him 30 days of leave pursuant to the order given by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on September 2, 2021.
Ravichandran has been given ordinary leave by virtue of Section 432 of CrPC(Power of Government to suspend or remit sentences), and Rule 40 of Tamil Nadu suspension of Sentences Rules, 1982 (Power of Government to give exemption to the rules).
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justices V. Bharathidasan and S. Ananthi had directed the state to pass a suitable order on the petition of Ravichandran's mother P. Rajeswari.
She had informed the Government and the court that her son requires surgery in his right eye and that he required two months of ordinary leave.
Rahul Gandhi visited Veer Bhumi and paid floral tributes to his father. "Truth, Compassion, Progress," he later wrote on Twitter with the hashtag #RememberingRajivGandhi. He also attached a photograph of his father.
Ravichandran will not be allowed to meet anyone other than his family members and he should not interact with the media and has been asked to stay within the premises specified in the leave petition.
All the convicts are in prison since 1991, the year a woman LTTE suicide bomber blew up herself, killing the former Prime Minister on the spot at an election rally near Chennai.
Perarivalan, Nalini, V. Sriharan alias Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and P. Ravichandran are serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The Madurai Bench has also directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide strong police escort to the convict during the leave period and to provide a daily compliance report on the same. The court has also directed him to report daily to the nearby police station.
