The Indian state of Tamil Nadu ruled yesterday that seven men jailed for assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi should be freed for having served over 20 years in prison.

The state government decision came a day after India’s Supreme Court commuted three of the seven convicts’ death sentences to life in prison.

Their lawyers argued that executing the three now, after they had already served long prison terms, would amount to an unconstitutional double punishment.

Yug Chaudhry, a lawyer for the prisoners, said yesterday that the men were now entitled to be freed because they had served more than 20 years.

The federal government must approve the state’s decision before the men can be released.

But Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha said she would only wait three days.

“If the federal government fails to respond in three days, we will release them on our own,” she told the state legislature.

Opponents said the change of heart was simply because national elections were around the corner.

Rahul Gandhi, Congress party vice-president and son of Rajiv Gandhi, criticised the decision.

“The prime minister of the country was killed — I am sad that the killers are being released,” he said.

The assassination was orchestrated by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels to avenge Mr Gandhi’s decision to send troops to intervene in the country’s civil war in the 1980s.