We will pass order to release him: SC on Rajiv Gandhi’s killer

New Delhi, May 4

Peeved at the Tamil Nadu Governor not taking a call on the state cabinet’s decision to release to the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict AG Perarivalan who has served 36 years of his life imprisonment, the Supreme Court Wednesday said it will order his release from jail.

“We will pass the order to release him from jail as you are not ready to argue the case on merits…We cannot shut our eyes to something that is happening against the Constitution and will have to go by the Bible which is the Constitution. There is nobody above law. There are certain powers conferred to dignitaries, but the working of the Constitution should not come to a grinding halt,” a Bench led by Justice LN Rao told Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj.

Maintaining that the Governor was bound by the aid and advice given by the Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers under Article 161 of the Constitution, the Bench – which had granted bail to Perarivalan on March 9 — directed the Centre to submit its response by next week.

The Tamil Nadu Governor was bound by the decision of the state cabinet on Perarivalan’s release, it said disapproving of his action sending the mercy plea to the President.

Refusing to agree with the Centre’s suggestion that the court should wait till the President decides on the issue, the top court said it can’t shut its eyes to something against the Constitution.

“It is a matter to be decided by the court, the decision of the Governor was not even needed, he is bound by the decision of the council of ministers. We will have to look into this,” it told Nataraj who said the file had been referred by the Governor to the President.

“If the President refers it (mercy plea) back to the Governor, there is no need to discuss this issue at all… The President himself will decide if the Governor could have referred the file to him or not. Whether the reference is right or not, that call must be taken by the President first,” Natraj said.

Terming the Centre’s request to wait for the President’s decision on the mercy petition as “completely absurd”, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Tamil Nadu Government, said it goes against federalism.

On behalf of Perarivalan, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan said every time the Governor was coming up with an “excuse” not to take a call.

Noting that the working of the Constitution should not come to a grinding halt,” it said, “We thought it was our duty to interpret the law and not the President… Whether the Governor was right in referring to the State Cabinet’s wish to the President, instead of exercising his duty under Article 161, has to be decided by the court.”

Noting that the convict was not interested in finer questions of law, the Bench said, “He wants to be released as he has suffered in prison for over 30 years. We have passed judgments in the past in favour of life convicts who have served over 20 years of their sentence… There cannot be any discrimination in this case whatever may be the magnitude of the crime.”