Former PM and then MP from Amethi, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. 16 people including Rajiv Gandhi and attacker Dhanu lost their lives in the attack. In this case, the lower court had sentenced 26 convicts to death. In 1999, the Supreme Court acquitted 19 people and sentenced four accused – Nalini, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan – to death. Why Sonia Gandhi forgave the killers The Supreme Court gave life imprisonment to three people Ravichandran, Robert Payas and Jayakumar. Later, those who received death sentence were also commuted to life imprisonment. Due to the apology of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, the death sentence of these people was commuted to life imprisonment.Rajiv Gandhi assassinationAfter being released from jail in 2022, Nalini had told that after the announcement of hanging, a religious leader had also come and met her to know her last wish. Rehearsal was also done by weighing them and hanging a sand bag of the same weight. Then they came to know that the hanging had been postponed. In the year 1999, the Gandhi family had decided to forgive Nalini, who was convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. In November 1999, Sonia Gandhi had told the then President KR Narayanan that she and her children would appeal for pardon for Nalini. In fact, when Nalini was arrested in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, she was 2 months pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter in jail itself. When Nalini was sentenced to death, her daughter was 7 years old. After Sonia Gandhis appeal, Nalinis sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. According to a BBC report, Sonia had said that how could an innocent child be punished for Nalinis mistake, who had not even come into this world at the time of her arrestPriyanka Gandhi met NaliniPriyanka Gandhi met Nalini in Vellore jail on 19 March 2008. In her book, Nalini has mentioned about Priyanka crying bitterly after meeting her. Two years later, in 2010, Priyanka Gandhi talked about this in a television interview. She had said that there was a lot of anger inside me regarding my fathers death. If someone kills the person you love the most, it becomes a big deal. Then we feel more victimized. But the moment you realize that the other person is also suffering from the circumstances like you, then you reach a stage where you can forgive anyone.
