TN Governor wants President to decide on remission of Perarivalan's sentence: Centre in SC

During an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over the Tamil Nadu Governor for not taking any decision on the remission plea of Perarivalan for over two years.
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan (Photo | File)
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan (Photo | File)

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit had opined that the President of India is the competent authority to take a decision on the remission of sentence of AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Filing an affidavit, Ministry of Home Affairs told the top court that, "Governor of Tamil Nadu considered all facts on records and after perusal of the relevant documents decided that President is the appropriate competent authority to deal with the request of remittance."

During an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over the Tamil Nadu Governor for not taking any decision on the remission plea of Perarivalan for over two years.

The bench had asked the governor to expedite his decision on the state's recommendations for the remission of sentence of the convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Perarivalan had applied to the Governor for pardon on December 30, 2015.

Almost three years later, in September 2018, the Supreme Court asked the Governor to decide the pardon plea as he deemed fit.  Three days after that, on September 9, 2018, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet recommended to the Governor to remit Perarivalan's sentence and release him forthwith but the Governor is yet take a call on the same. Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumpudur in May 1991.

The Bench was hearing a petition filed by Perarivalan seeking release from the prison based on the recommendation made by the Tamil Nadu government. Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.

On February 18, 2014, the apex court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding the mercy pleas by the Centre.

Speaking to The New Indian Express on Thursday evening, Perarivalan's advocate K Sivakumar expressed shock over the Governor's decision and said there was no precedent for the Governor referring the remission petition under 161 of the IPC to the President. 

"The Governor took nearly 2.5 years to take action on the recommendation of the State Cabinet and now the State government should defend its decision before the Apex Court," he said.

Expressing hope that the Edappadi K Palaniswami-led Tamil Nadu government will fight to uphold their rights, Sivakumar said the Chief Minister met the Governor on January 29 seeking the release of Perarivalan, however, it appears that the latter failed to inform the CM of his decision. "We will continue our fight legally and expect support from the State government," he said.

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