Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for convicts of Rajiv Gandhi assassination

• The Supreme Court of India on 18 February 2014 commuted the death sentence of three convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to life imprisonment.
• The decision was made by the apex court following the delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy plea by the central government. 
• The decision was made by the three-judge bench of Supreme Court that was headed by the Chief Justice of India, P Sathasivam and included Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Singh. 
• The bench of the Court in its decision said that it was unable to accept the view of the centre and that’s why it has commuted the death sentence of convicts namely Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan to imprisonment for life subject to remission by the government. 

Important to note : 

• Rajiv Gandhi was killed on 21 May 1991 and his assassins were convicted by a TADA Court in January 1998. 
• He died in the suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.