The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed writ petitions filed by S Nalini and R.P. Ravichandran, life convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to release them forthwith.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala held the High Court could not issue such a direction by exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The judges also pointed out that the Supreme Court had recently ordered the release of co-convict A.G. Perarivalan by exercising its special power under Article 142 of the Constitution.
Such power, conferred on the Supreme Court to issue any direction in order to do complete justice in a matter pending before it, had not been provided to the High Courts, the Bench said.
In her plea, Nalini had sought for a direction to the State Government to release her forthwith without waiting for the Governor to sign a recommendation made by the State Cabinet in September 2018 to release all seven convicts involved in the crime.
