Rajiv Gandhi murder convict seeks mercy killing

News Network

June 22, 2017

Chennai, Jun 22: Robert Payas, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who has been behind bars for more than 26 years, submitted a request for mercy killing to the prison authorities on Wednesday. Payas was sentenced to life imprisonment but although the state government decided to release all seven convicts in the case, the remission process was blocked by the Supreme Court.

Payas, who is detained in Chennai's Puzhal prison, submitted a letter to the superintendent of prisons of the convict ward, seeking permission to end his life. The SP, prisons, has informed senior officials about the letter.

A senior police officer said, "We cannot take any decision based on his letter. We have forwarded it to the state home department through the DGP's office. The matter pertains to the central government and the review case is still pending before the Supreme Court."

Payas, a Sri Lankan Tamil, claimed to have joined the assassination plot as his child had died due to alleged atrocities by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) which was sent to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. The investigators included his name as one of the key planners in the assassination conspiracy and he was awarded a life sentence.

The Tamil Nadu government had decided to release seven people who were convicted for their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.

Three of them - Santhan alias T Suthenthiraraja, close associate of the prime suspect T Sivarasan and an intelligence wing member of the LTTE, Nalini, who performed recce operations to assess the security arrangements for the then Prime Minister V P Singh's rally, and her husband Murugan - were on death row and had their sentences commuted to life terms by the apex court.

The others - Payas, A G Perarivalan, Jayakumar and Ravichandran - are serving life sentences. The Supreme Court stayed the state government's order, saying that the state could not release them without the Centre's consent. The state government has appealed to the Supreme Court to review the order and the matter is still pending before the court.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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