Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict AG Perarivalan who has been in jail for 32 years.
“Taking into account the fact that the applicant has spent over 30 years in prison, we are of the considered view that he is entitled to be released on bail,” a Bench led by Justice LN Rao said.
Overruling the Centre’s opposition to his release on bail, the Bench noted that he has been released on parole thrice and there have been no complaints about his conduct.
Perarivalan—is currently on parole—will have to fulfill the bail conditions imposed by the trial court and report to the CBI on the first day of every month, the Bench said.
The top court had in 2014 commuted the death penalty of Perarivalan and two other convicts to life imprisonment on the ground of inordinate delay in deciding their mercy petitions.
Wednesday’s order came on a petition filed by Perarivalan in 2016 challenging a Madras High Court’s order refusing to entertain his plea for commuting his sentence. The top court is seized of his plea for suspension of his life sentence in the case till the MDMA probe was completed.
The top court kept the petition pending as it first wanted to be clear as to who the appropriate authority was—the President or Governor.
Earlier the top court was told that the Tamil Nadu Governor wanted the President to decide the plea for the remission of sentence of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Ministry of Home Affairs had submitted that after considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the Governor has said the President would be the competent authority in the matter.
In such a scenario, the Centre would process the remission plea.
Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had on January 21 last year told the Supreme Court that Tamil Nadu Governor will take a decision in three-four days on the state government’s recommendation for pre-mature release of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The state Cabinet had on September 9, 2018, recommended to the Governor for the premature release of all seven convicts in the case. Besides Perarivalan, other six convicts sentenced to life imprisonment include Nalini Sriharan, her husband Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar, Ravichandran, and Robert Pyas.
All the seven were convicted by a special TADA court for their role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991, during an election rally at nearby Sriperumbudur and sentenced to death, but later it was commuted to life imprisonment.
