Although the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty has had its fair share of power as executive heads of the country, they have arguably been the most unfortunate when it comes to saving themselves from assassinations and security lapses.

The tactic she used was uncannily similar to the one used to shoot Mahatma Gandhi – she bent down to seemingly touch the feet of Rajiv Gandhi to seek his blessings but detonated an explosive belt she was wearing beneath her clothes. The suicide bombing killed Rajiv Gandhi and Dhanu and 14 innocent others. Many people were injured fatally in the blast. After investigations, 26 people were arrested for allegedly being a part of the conspiracy to kill the former Prime Minister.

Dhanu belonged to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organisation fighting for the sovereignty of Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka. Apart from a personal vendetta that their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran held for Rajiv Gandhi, the LTTE was collectively enraged by the Indian involvement in the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Moreover, Rajiv Gandhi had shown intentions of eliminating the LTTE notoriety if he was voted to power again. When security protocol was broken during Gandhi’s visit to Chennai, it became easy for the LTTE members to take advantage and bomb the Prime Minister.

The trials and investigations of his assassination were carried out under TADA – the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

All 26 of the accused were sentenced to death under TADA on January 28, 1998, causing a huge controversy among legal scholars and human rights groups.

As TADA does not permit appeals made at the level of the High Court, many human rights organisations made appeals to the Supreme Court to conduct the trial transparently.