Robert Pious, one of the convicts sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He has been behind the bars for more than 26 years. On Wednesday he submitted a letter to the Tamil Nadu Government seeking permission to end his life. He has pleaded that he does not want to live as he has lost hope for justice. He also accused that despite the Tamil Nadu government supporting him, no efforts being taken. Both the Previous UPA (United Progressive Alliance) and current NDA (National Democratic Alliance) governments are maintaining a nonchalant stance towards his case and said that none of them wants him out of the prison.
Robert Pious, a 46-years-old Sri Lankan convict, who alleged to a part of LTTE commando team. He claimed that he joined the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination plot because of the alleged atrocities of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) which were sent to his country in the late 1980s and in which his child had died. He is one of the seven people serving a life term for the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. The Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally for the alliance between Jayalalithaa and the Congress in Sriperumbedur on May 21, 1991. Fourteen other people also lost their lives in that blast. After the assassination, a trial court had sent 26 accused to death under the TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities) Act, in 1998. The very next year, the Supreme Court freed 19 of them, upheld death for four and reduced the sentences of three accused from the death sentence to life imprisonment and Pious was one of them. The Jayalalithaa government tried to release them in 2014 but the central government blocked the effort saying that assassinating the Prime Minister of India is a diabolical act.
Pious said that his family members have been unable to visit him for several years and Justice D P Wadhwa found him innocent but still he has gone through 26 years imprisonment. In an emotionally charged letter to Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami, he urged that he should be killed on grounds of mercy and his body should be handed over to his family. He was 20 when he arrested in 1991.On 11 June this year, he completed 26 years of incarceration and entered the 27th year and believes that there is no longer any hope of him getting released as none of the accused have executed in this case till now.
According to a senior police officer, they cannot take any decision based on his letter so, they have forwarded the letter to the state home department as the matter pertains to the central government and the review case is still pending before the apex court.
