Unfolding the events that led to the release of first of the 7 convicts

By invoking the powers of Article 142 of the Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court has ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, one of the convicts in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The former PM was assassinated at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, at 10.20 pm by a woman assassin, Dhanu, who triggered a belt bomb killing Gandhi and 16 others.

This order will pave the way for the release of the other six convicts. One of them is Nalini Sriharan who was the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination. 

Nalini and Perarivalan were among 26 accused who were sentenced to death by a TADA court on January 28, 1998.

The Supreme Court on May 11, 1999, upheld the death sentence of four convicts – Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan and Nalini. Three others were sentenced to life sentences while 19 other death convicts were freed.

Nalini had pleaded guilty and regretted the killing of the former prime minister but also claimed that the real conspirators have not been booked yet.

A year later, Nalini’s death penalty was commuted to life by the then Tamil Nadu governor on the basis of a recommendation of the state cabinet, and a public appeal made by Sonia Gandhi.

Nalini was shown clemency by Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the sake of her daughter, to whom she gave birth in the prison itself. 

The very next year, three death convicts – Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, submitted their mercy pleas to the President of India.

Upon mercy plea rejected by then President of India Pratibha Patil, the execution of the three convicts, Murugan (Nalini’s husband) and the other two Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu was scheduled for September 9, 2011.

However, the Madras High Court intervened and stayed the execution orders.

In 2010, Nalini moved to the Supreme Court seeking her release as she had already served 20 years in prison. Her argument was, “Even Life convicts are released after 14 years”. However, her request was rejected.

Supreme Court commuted the death penalty of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, along with 12 others including aides of forest brigand Veerappan, into imprisonment for life on January 21, 2014.

Next year, Perarivalan filed a mercy petition to the Tamil Nadu governor seeking release under Article 161 of the Constitution. Later, he moved Supreme Court after getting no reply from the governor.

The Tamil Nadu government granted parole to Perarivalan in 2017.

Three days after SC ruled that the governor has the right to decide on the remission petition filed by Perarivalan, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet headed by the then chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami recommended the release of all seven convicts on September 9, 2018.

As the governor continued to sit on the cabinet recommendation, SC ordered to take a decision and warned that the court will be forced to release them citing the inordinate delay last year in January. The governor sent the files to the President despite it being a state cabinet recommendation.

Sending further delay in the matter, the apex court granted bail to Perarivalan on March 9, 2022. 

A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao in his order said the Tamil Nadu state cabinet's advice recommending the premature release of all seven convicts in the case was binding on the governor.

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 the Indian Penal Code, saying this would render article 161 (power of governor to grant pardon) functionless.

The bench, also comprising Justice B R Gavai, held that states have the power to advise and aid the governor in case of pleas of pardon under article 161 made by convicts in murder cases.

Article 142 of the Constitution deals with the Supreme Court's power to exercise its jurisdiction and pass order for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it. The article was also used in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.