Rajiv Gandhi murder:
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Centre to decide within the next few days about the mercy appeal submitted by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi murder convict AG Perarivalan and published his petition for early release due to delay in deciding on his mercy petition until January.
Perarivalan made his mercy plea to his Tamil Nadu governor in December 2015 under Article 161 in the Constitution, which governs the Governor’s remission power.
After more than five years, the Governor decided in January of this year to forward the case for the attention of the President. However, the case was repeatedly adjourned in the following months and was scheduled to be heard only on Tuesday.
A bench composed of justice L Nageswara Rao said, “This issue has been in the limbo for quite a while. It is now time to decide. We’ll announce the decision in January next year.”
Senior attorney Gopal Shankarnaraynan, who represented Perarivalan, claimed that the petitioner had been held in prison for 30 years and asked the court to record the Governor’s registration decision.
“The Governor isn’t a participant in the case filed by Perarivalan. However, on the 21st of January, the Governor intervened in the proceedings via the solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
He was informed that the mercy appeal would be decided within the next one week time,” the Governor said.
The Governor made a final decision on the 25th of January that was communicated to the court by the sole authority to decide on the remission of Perarivalan was the President.
Without a specific timeframe or time frame, the Centre advised the top court that the suggestion accepted by Governor would be handled according to the laws. The Governor did not specify a timeframe to make a decision.
Perarivalan applied his case to the Supreme Court in 2016 for an earlier decision on his plea to remission in the midst of. He was one of the seven individuals found guilty by an exclusive TADA court for being a part of the plot to murder the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the 21st of May 1991.
In the present, he is serving a life sentence for providing the battery used in the explosion that caused the death of the former premier.
Perarivalan claimed on his application that the officer who was investigating for his investigation into the Rajiv Gandhi assassination investigation then admitted that he erred in not excluding the exculpatory sections of the testimony provided by him in the recording of his testimony in which he denied any knowledge of the plot of assassination while supplying the battery.
