Supreme Court Orders release of convict in the assassination of Rajeeev Gandhi- Perarivalan

By Our Special Correspondent

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered release of A G Perarivalan, a life-term convict in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, after noting inordinate delay by the Governor on remission of his sentence, and over 31 years of his incarceration.

The order came 24 years after Perarivalan was sentenced to death in the case by a lower court, and two months after he was granted bail by the apex court. Perarivalan was arrested on June 11, 1991, at the age of 19, weeks after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bomb attack at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, B R Gavai and A S Bopanna used its extraordinary power to do "complete justice" under Article 142 of the Constitution to set the convict, already on bail since March 9, 2022, at liberty forthwith in the case.

Observing that the Tamil Nadu Governor ought not to have sent the recommendation made by the state Cabinet to the President, the apex court said such action is contrary to the constitutional scheme elaborated above. The apex court also discarded the Centre’s argument that the President exclusively has the power to grant pardon in a case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code saying this would render article 161 the power of the Governor to grant pardon functionless.

The bench said that “insofar as offences under Section 302 IPC are concerned, in the absence of any specific provision under the Constitution or under law made by the Parliament expressly conferring executive power on the Union, the executive power of the State would extend, irrespective of whether the subject matter of Section 302 is considered to be covered by an entry” in the concurrent list.

Perarivalan was arrested at the age of 19 and was sentenced to death in May 1999 after being held guilty of purchasing the 8-volt battery used by assassins to detonate the belt bomb that killed the former PM.