What made SC grant bail for Perarivalan

The Supreme Court Wednesday granted bail to AG Perarivalan alias Arivu who has been serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, taking note of his long incarceration of over 30 years and no history of complaint when out on parole.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai directed the convict, whose death penalty was commuted into life term in 2014, to report to local police station near Chennai in the first week of every month and ordered that the additional conditions for release would be decided by a local court there.

“There is no dispute regarding the fact that the applicant has undergone the sentence of 32 years. We are informed by the counsel for the applicant that he was released on parole thrice earlier and there was no complaint about his conduct during his release,” the bench said in its order.

It also took note of the submission that the convict is on parole at present as well, and there is sufficient material produced about his conduct during his long incarceration. The bench considered the fact that Perarivalan has acquired educational qualifications and has been suffering ill health during incarceration.

“Taking into account the fact that the applicant has already spent more than 30 years in prison, we are of the considered view that he is entitled to be released in on bail in spite of the vehement opposition of the ASG (additional solicitor general, who appeared for the Centre), subject to the final disposal of the SLPs (special leave petitions) here.”