From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered release of A G Perarivalan. convict in the former Rajiv Gandhi assassination case after the Tamil Nadu Governor’s delay to decide his pardon plea. He has been behind the bars for the last 31 years.
A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Bhushan R Gavai gave the judgment, invoking powers under Article 142 of the Constitution under which the court may pass a decree or make orders necessary for doing complete justice in any cause of matter pending before it.
The Court observed that the Tamil Nadu state cabinet decided to grant remission to Perarivalan on relevant considerations but there was inordinate delay by then Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit and sent his case to the President of India to decide.
On March 9, the top court had granted bail to Perarivalan while taking note of his long incarceration and no history of complaints when out on parole.
The top court was hearing the plea of teh 47-year old Perarivalan, seeking suspension of his life sentence till the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency probe is completed.
Rajiv Gandhi as assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, Dhanu, at an election rally.
In its May 1999 order, the top court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham and Nalini. On February 18, 2014, it commuted the death sentence of the first three on the ground of an 11-year delay in deciding their mercy plea by the Centre.
