The Supreme Court heard the plea for premature release of A.G. Perarivalan, who was among those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Earlier the Supreme Court had commuted Perarivalan’s death sentence to life imprisonment on February 18, 2014 over the delay in deciding his mercy plea by the Central government, which was delayed by 11 years in total.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Perarivalan, said that on a non-hearing today, “I am in jail for the last 30 years,” The order of release given by the Governor of Tamil Nadu should be kept on record.
The bench of Justices L.N. Rao, B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna while hearing the matter told the Central government that they should keep in mind that the hearing of the case in January will not be postponed.
Previously, the Tamil Nadu Governor had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the President can take the final decision on the release of Perarivalan. The court was informed that the Governor had submitted his reply to the President over the release and in his reply to the Supreme Court; the Governor has said that the President has the right to take any decision on this.
In fact, after Perarivalan filed a petition in the Supreme Court, the state government waived his sentence but the Governor is yet to take his decision on it. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman LTTE cadre Dhanu during an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu in May 1991.
The Supreme Court will now hear the matter in January.