Rajiv Gandhi killers should be pardoned, set free: Katju

Chennai: Justice Markandey Katju, a former Supreme Court Judge, on Friday triggered a new controversy. This time on the fate of Rajiv Gandhi killers. In his blog Satyam Bruyat, he said Rajiv Gandhi killers should be pardoned and set free now as they had been in jail for 24 years. Justice Katju, also a former Chairman of the Press Council of India, said that the assassins should be set free like Abdul Qadeer in Hyderabad jail, D.S. Bhuller in Tihar prison and Zaibunnisa Qazi in Yeravada jail.

Striking a harsh tone, he said, “I am not justifying the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. But what business did Rajiv Gandhi have in sending the Indian army into Sri Lanka, causing the deaths of thousands of Tamilians, apart from 3000 of our soldiers ? Would that not have given rise to a strong sense of resentment among Tamilians?” he asked in his blog.   

Rajiv Gandhi’s ordering massacre of Sikhs in 1984 after the assassination of his mother and saying ‘Jab bada ped girta hai, to dharti hil hai jaati ‘ (when a big tree falls it shakes the ground) showed that he had a criminal bent, Justice Katju said.

“In any case, enough is enough. The convicts should now be freed. If they are not, I am setting up a ‘ Court of Last Resort ‘ on my return to India for attaining this objective, and for this I will appeal to the patriotic Indians for help,”  he said. ‘ Court of Last Resort’ will not really be a court in the judicial sense but only a fact finding body whose aim will be to secure justice for all, he said.