SC extends by week parole granted to Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan
Nov 23, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 23 : The Supreme Court on Monday extended by a period of one week the parole granted to AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, for medical check-up.
A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao extended the parole of Perarivalan to go to the hospital for medical check-up, after his lawyer complained he was not provided police escort for medical visit. His parole was scheduled to end on November 23.
The bench also directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide security to escort him to the hospital and now posted the matter for further hearing in January.
Earlier this month, Perarivalan had walked out of a Tamil Nadu prison on a-month-long parole, granted by the Madras High Court, to visit his ailing father and attend his niece's marriage ceremonies.
Earling during a hearing, the apex court had expressed unhappiness over the Tamil Nadu Governor not taking a decision for over two years on the remission plea of Perarivalan.
The bench had asked the Tamil Nadu government to request the State Governor to expedite his decision on the State's recommendations for the remission of sentence of a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Perarivalan seeking release from the prison based on the recommendation made by the Tamil Nadu government.
On February 18, 2014, the top 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.
Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumpudur, Tamil Nadu on May the night of 21, 1991, by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.
