Three decades later, convict in former Indian PM Gandhi assassination freed

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court docket on Wednesday ordered the discharge of A.G. Perarivalan, who was convicted of involvement within the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Gandhi was killed by an ethnic Tamil suicide bomber whereas campaigning in an election within the southern Indian city of Sriperumbudur in Could 1991. His killing was seen as an act of retaliation after he despatched Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.
Perarivalan was convicted in 1991 of buying the batteries used to detonate the bomb that killed Gandhi.
In Could 2021, the Tamil Nadu state authorities allowed Perarivalan to depart on parole, utilizing a provision within the Tamil Nadu Jail guide.
The Supreme Court docket took a lenient view of Perarivalan, saying he was 19 years previous on the time of arrest and had been jailed for over 30 years, together with 16 years on dying row and 29 years in solitary confinement.
Talking to the Indian Categorical newspaper on Wednesday, Perarivalan recalled years spent in a cramped 6 ft (1.8 m) by 9 ft (2.7 m) cell throughout his time in solitary confinement.
“A room during which I had nothing however empty partitions to take a look at,” he mentioned, describing obsessively counting bricks on the wall, measuring the door and bolts and imagining smells he craved.
Six others folks, together with a girl, are nonetheless in jail and are awaiting a verdict within the case.
The courtroom mentioned Perarivalan was launched after contemplating his “passable conduct in jail and through parole” and “power illnesses.”
Gandhi’s widow, Sonia, is head of India’s foremost opposition Congress social gathering whereas their son, Rahul, has been main its marketing campaign for elections. A Congress social gathering spokesman mentioned on Wednesday the social gathering was deeply saddened by the courtroom’s choice.
Many within the state of Tamil Nadu celebrated the decision as a victory for human rights.
“My greatest needs and heat welcome to Perarivalan who is about to completely breathe the air of liberation after greater than 30 years of imprisonment,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Ok Stalin tweeted.