A G Perarivalan, who spent 31 years in jail in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case - 29 of those in solitary confinement - is a free man. The Supreme Court directed that he be “set at liberty forthwith”, taking into account his good conduct in prison, medical ailments and delay on the part of the Tamil Nadu governor in deciding his remission plea.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, B R Gavai and AS Bopanna invoked the Supreme Court’s extraordinary power granted under Article 142 of the Constitution to deliver “complete justice” and granted relief to Perarivalan, instead of referring his remission plea to the governor to take a call. The court also said that the governor’s decision to send the plea to the President was wrong and has no constitutional backing.
The apex court’s order is the culmination of Perarivalan aka Arivu’s long legal battle which began after he was arrested in the case when he was 19 years old. He was awarded death sentence and spent around 16 years in the shadow of death till the capital punishment was commuted to life imprisonment in 2014 by a bench headed by then CJI P Sathasivam. He thereafter moved for a remission plea and the state cabinet backed it but the governor sat on the recommendation for two-and a-half years and referred the case to the President when the apex court raised questions on the delay on the part of the head of the state.
The bench said, “Given that his petition under Article 161 remained pending for two and a half years following the recommendation of the state cabinet for remission of his sentence and continues to remain pending for over a year since the reference by the governor, we do not consider it appropriate to remand the matter for the governor’s consideration. In the absence of any other disqualification and in the exceptional facts and circumstances of this case, in exercise of our power under Article 142 of the Constitution, we direct that the appellant is deemed to have served the sentence in connection with the Crime No. 329 of 1991. The Appellant, who is on bail, is set at liberty forthwith.”
Former PM Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber during an election campaign in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. Perarivalan was convicted of purchasing the batteries used to detonate the bomb. He was among the 26 accused who were sentenced to death in 1998.
