New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a plea seeking the release of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination convict AG Perarivalan. He was behind the bars for the last 31 years. This verdict will also decide the release of six other convicts in the case including Nalini Sriharan and her husband Murugan, who is a Sri Lankan national.
Perarivalan was accused of buying 9-volt batteries for LTTE's Sivarasan, who was the mastermind behind the PM's assassination. The batteries bought by 19-year-old Perarivalan were used in the bomb to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.
The apex court will pronounce its judgment on Wednesday on whether the Tamil Nadu Governor was right in referring Rajiv Gandhi's assassination convict plea for pardon to the President without taking a decision, said The Hindu report.
Also read | Ready To Release Perarivalan If Centre Has Nothing To Argue, Says Supreme Court
A Supreme Court bench earlier gave the Centre one option to choose between Peravivalan, who has served over 30 years of life sentence to be released or argue the case. The Centre chose to argue the case and get a judgment on merit.
The court had observed that Tamil Nadu Governor is bound by the state cabinet decision to release all seven convicts, who were behind bars since the assassination of Gandhi. Earlier, the top court also observed that Under Article 161 of the Constitution, Governor is bound by the advice given by the council of ministers to the Governor to release Rajiv Gandhi's assassination convicts.
In the hearing last week, the Centre drew flak from the court over its argument that in cases of grant of mercy, only the President would have exclusive powers. “We cannot shut our eyes to something that is happening against the Constitution. We have to follow our Bible - the Constitution of India,” The Hindu said quoting Justice L Nageswara Rao.