MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court granted 15 days of ordinary leave to one Ravi alias Ravichandran, one of the convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. A Bench, comprising justices T Raja and B Pugalendhi, passed the order on a Habeas Corpus petition filed by Ravichandran's mother, P Rajeswari of Virudhunagar.
Rajeswari submitted that her son has spent more than 27 years in prison and has been granted leave only four times so far. She stated that she had filed a representation to the government on March 27, 2019, seeking leave for her son, and that the High Court Bench, in October 2019, had directed the government to consider the same. However, the said representation was rejected in November, challenging which Rajeswari has approached the court.
Explaining the reason for the said rejection, the Additional Advocate General (AAG) K Chellapandian stated that the government was not in a position to provide escort to Ravichandran since significant events like police selection and rural local body election were scheduled to take place at that time. He also cited that the petitioner's residence was situated in a congested region and it was difficult to provide security.
However, the judges refused to accept the contentions. Pointing out that the local body elections are over and no untoward incidents have taken place to Ravichandran in previous instances when he had been released on leave, the judges granted leave to Ravichandran from January 10 to 25 so that the convict can be with his family for Pongal festival.