On Wednesday, March 9, the Supreme Court granted bail to AG Perarivalan, who was one of seven convicted in the assassination case of former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi. The bail was granted despite severe opposition from the Assistant Solicitor General KM Nataraj. Perarivalan has been serving a life sentence, as sis death penalty was commuted to life term imprisonment by the Supreme Court verdict in February 2014.
The #SupremeCourt on Wednesday granted bail to AG Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts serving life sentence in the case related to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 9, 2022
Read more: https://t.co/YeJ3qsEZq2#Perarivalan #RajivGandhi pic.twitter.com/oHYSUuPkKZ
The Supreme Court was hearing the plea of 47-year-old Perarivalan, who was seeking a stay in the case until the MDMA investigation was completed.
While granting the bail, the apex court stated that the bail will be subject to trial court conditions and that Perarivalan must report to the CBI officer on the first of every month.
The apex court has been deliberating whether to grant bail to Perarivalan because the Governor has yet to rule on his petition for release from prison. The bench of justice L Nageswara Rao, however, granted the bail stating that AG Perarivalan had undergone imprisonment for 32 years.
The bench, which also included Justice B R Gavai, noted that there is no dispute about Perarivalan having served 32 years in prison and that the court was informed he had been released on parole twice previously with no complaints.
Perarivalan in his bail petition had stated that the Governor had yet to rule on his request for remission and that the delay was a basis for bail.
Centre objects bail of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan
The centre had objected to the bail, claiming that Perarivalan’s request should be decided by the President. “In case of offences to which the executive power of the Union extends, it is the Centre which is entitled to decide on plea for release,” it said.
It also argued that Perarivalan had already reaped the benefit of a death sentence reduction to life imprisonment by citing a delay in deciding his mercy plea and that he could not reap the benefit again by citing another delay.
“It’s for life. Imprisonment is till life. He is a death row convict”, argued ASG KM Natraj, opposing the SC’s decision granting bail to AG Perarivalan.
ASG KM Natraj appears
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) March 9, 2022
Justice L Nageswara Rao: so we will release him on bail. He has undergone for 32 years
ASG: It’s for life. Imprisonment is till life. He is a death row convict
On this, the Supreme Court said, “In view of the stand taken by the Union of India that the state government does not have the power to entertain the application especially after the sentence of death imposed on the convict has been reduced to life, the matter will have to be decided finally”. It further said that “sufficient material has been produced by the applicant to prove his conduct during the long incarceration, acquisition of degrees and ill health.”
Perarivalan, who was arrested in the case at the age of 19, was sentenced to death in May 1999. He was charged with purchasing the 8-volt battery used to detonate the belt bomb that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. During the lengthy pendency of their mercy petitions, his sentence and that of two others, Murugan and Santhan (both Sri Lankans), were commuted to life in prison in 2014. Soon after, the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu ordered the release of all seven of the case’s convicts.
While the Governor did not consider Perarivalan’s pardon request in 2015, a Supreme Court order on a related petition in September 2018 clarified that the Governor was “deemed fit” to decide on the pardon. The AIADMK government recommended that all seven convicts be released within three days.
On September 9, 2018, the Tamil Nadu government recommended to the state Governor the early release of Perarivalan and six other convicts in the case.
The Tamil Nadu government’s decision to release all seven convicts, AG Perarivalan, V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini Sriharan, wife of V Sriharan under Article 161 of the Constitution is still pending with Governor. Four of the convicts – Sriharan, Santhan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar are Sri Lankan nationals.
13 others killed with Rajiv Gandhi
Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. On that fateful day, along with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, 13 others had lost their lives. When Rajiv Gandhi’s family, including Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, chose to ‘forgive’ the convicts and said they had no objection if the killers are released, the kin of those who had died along with Rajiv Gandhi were not too happy with the move. How could Sonia Gandhi or her children decide on behalf of family members of 13 others who lost their lives along with Rajiv Gandhi, they said
