From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to A G Perarivalan, the convict in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in May 1991, who sought remission of his life sentence after escaping the death penalty in 2014.
A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Bhushan R Gavai noted that he has already undergone 32 years in prison and there were no complaints about his conduct when released thrice on parole. He was just 19 at the time of the killing by a human bomb or else he would have escaped the sentence as a juvenile.
“Taking note of the fact that Perarivalan has spent more than 30 years in jail, we are of view that he is entitled to be released on bail,” the Court said, adding that even now he is on parole.
The Centre opposed his bail as Additional Solicitor General K M Ntaraj strongly opposed the relief noting that Perarivalan is a convict who was sentenced to death before the Supreme Court had in 2014 commuted it to the life imprisonment. He argued that life imprisonment is till end of life. “When remission has been given subject to life, how can it be reduced again,” he asked.
The Bench, however, rejected his contention, saying “we can grant bail, then subject to remission.”
He is entitled to be released on bail despite of repeated opposition by the Additional Solicitor General, the Court said in its order.
“Bail will be subject to conditions by trial court and he shall report to CBI officer on first of every month. For the present time let him report on local police station,” the Court further directed, fixing further hearing in the matter in April.
Perarivalan was convicted and sentenced to death when he was 19 for aiding in making the bomb responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The Supreme Court had in 2014, commuted his death penalty to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding the assassins’ mercy petitions.
Perarivalan had applied to the Governor for pardon on December 30, 2015. Almost three years later, in September 2018, the Supreme Court asked the Governor to decide the pardon plea as he “deemed fit”. Three days after that, on September 9, 2018, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet recommended to the Governor to remit Perarivalan’s sentence and release him forthwith but the Governor is yet take a call on the same.
The Supreme Court had, on November 3, 2020 said the investigation into the assassination need not deter the Tamil Nadu Governor from deciding the plea for pardon of convicts like him who have been serving their sentence in jail for over two decades.
Even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told the Supreme Court in October 2020 that the Governor of Tamil Nadu is the competent authority to decide on request for remission. However, the Governor has maintained that the President is the competent authority to take a call on remission.
