The Supreme Court on Wednesday invoked its extraordinary powers to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution and ordered the release of A.G. Perarivalan in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, in its judgment, took into consideration Perarivalans long incarceration for over 30 years to order his release.
Perarivalan, who was 19 years old at the time of Gandhis killing in 1991, was accused of buying the two 9-volt batteries used in the bomb to assassinate the former prime minister. He was sentenced to death by a TADA court in 1998.
The Supreme Court commuted the sentence, while upholding it, to life imprisonment in 2014. The top court had granted him bail in March this year.
In 2018, Perarivalan approached the top Court aggrieved by the delay in his release despite a recommendation given by the Tamil Nadu government to remit his sentence.
Perarivalan, who is currently on bail, said his victory was a result of his mothers struggle over the last three decades. Speaking to the media outside his house in Jolarpettai, Tamil Nadu, Perarivalan said the ‘honesty in the case’ was what gave him and his mother, Arputhammal, the strength to fight for so long.