The Supreme Court ‘releases’ AG Perarivalan, Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict to walk free after 31 years

*Paromita Das
The Supreme Court has ordered the release of AG Perarivalan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who has been imprisoned for 31 years.

A bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao used its extraordinary power under Article 142 to grant Perarivalan relief. “The state cabinet made its decision based on relevant factors.” “It is appropriate to release the convict in accordance with Article 142,” the bench said.

Article 142 deals with the enforcement of Supreme Court decrees and orders, as well as discovery orders, among other things. On March 9, the Supreme Court granted bail to Perarivalan, citing his lengthy incarceration and a lack of complaints while on parole. The Supreme Court was hearing Perarivalan’s plea for the suspension of his life sentence in the case until the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency investigation was completed.

Peravilan was 19 years old at the time of the assassination and was accused of purchasing two 9-volt batteries for Sivarasan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) member who masterminded Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

The batteries were used in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

“For the past 31 years, my mother has been fighting my case. “She made a lot of sacrifices for my release,” Perarivalan said after the court order was issued on Wednesday.

A TADA court sentenced AG Perarivalan to death in 1998, and the Supreme Court upheld the sentence a year later. Years later, in 2014, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and the top court granted him bail in March of this year.

In March of this year, the Supreme Court granted him bail on the grounds that the convict had already served 31 years in prison.

In 2015, Perarivalan petitioned the Tamil Nadu Governor for release under Article 161 of the Constitution. Later, he petitioned the Supreme Court because the Governor had not responded.
Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at a poll rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, by a female suicide bomber known as Dhanu.

He was granted parole for the first time in August 2017 to visit his sick father, a Tamil poet and retired schoolteacher. According to the parole decision, he had completed the sentences imposed on him for the numerous offenses for which he had been convicted, and he was only serving time in prison under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (penalty for murder) (IPC). According to the order, it was up to the proper authorities (the state government) to evaluate the convict’s case.

In September 2018, after hearing his complaint about the delay in deciding his remission petition, the Supreme Court ruled that the Governor had the authority to decide on his claim.

Within days, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, led by then-Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, recommended that all seven defendants in the case be released. However, the Governor chose to disregard the Cabinet’s advice.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court expressed concern about the Governor’s prolonged delay and warned that the court would be forced to issue a decision. The government counsel assured the court that the decision would not be delayed any longer. The governor’s office, on the other hand, caught everyone off guard when it referred the case to President Ram Nath Kovind for a decision in February 2021.

Perarivalan has a very good prison record despite spending many years in solitary confinement. He had obtained a number of academic credentials during his lengthy sentence.