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Save Perarivalan, killer of Rajiv Gandhi (?!)

Perarivalan's MCA degree has drawn my attention on his case. I thought of digging little deeper on this. He is one of the convicted persons on Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, sentenced to death/capital punishment.

Perarivalan's Judgment

Search for "Arivu" (Perarivalan's alias) on the final judgment by Supreme Court titled "State Of Tamil Nadu Through ... vs Nalini And 25 Others on 11 May, 1999" and then compare the judgment of any acquitted person on the list. It seems that all are weighted equally on the case, but Perarivalan's got death sentence.

I then searched over and found a Tamil blog dated January 7, 2007 where he explains his case as "Rejected Justice". English version of his text/book is available in slideshow format "An Appeal from The Death Row"

Possible reasons for his innocence

After reading judgment file and his blog/book, it all looks like:
  • He's a guy with DK and LTTE propaganda. (DK seems to have sidelined him.)
  • If he does really belong to core LTTE execution team, he may not have the fear of death (he might have preferred suicide before getting caught by police).
  • The battery that he has bought may or may not be used in the bomb, as the bomb manufacturer is still not detected or investigated.
  • He doesn't seem to be aware of the conspiracy at all.
  • Much important legal point is that, though the Supreme Court has clearly held that the TADA act cannot apply to the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, the verdict was based on the confessional statements recorded under TADA. TADA act denies the opportunity to appeal in court. In his book, he mentions the reason for signing the confessional statement and how he wasn’t given chance to explain in court: After signing under severe torture I was forced to get in to the horrible prison room and I simply wept there. The guard there on duty asked me, "why are you weeping ?" I explained everything to him. Then he consoled, "the signature in police custody is not valid in Court. Hence whatever had been written in the document will not affect you". I believed his statement. He uttered those words with human love. There is truth in his statement. He made the statement on the basis of his familiarity with normal legal procedures. But the tragedy is that he did not know anything about TADA.

    I did not know TADA. I did not know the significance of confessional statements. I did not know the legal consequence of confessional statement. Still I signed because I was forced to sign.

Anti-Justice politics?

As usual, some people are making politics out of this death sentence and showing their intelligence. If Perarivalan is really innocent, is this politics against justice or?

Also, everywhere in the internet, many want the killers to be hanged. There shouldn't be any doubt on that; but what about hanging innocent people? Didn't they aware Perarivalan's cry for justice?

Need of the hour

  • Perarivalan's English book/text has to be made available in plaintext or HTML format to be picked up search engines (Current format is not search engine friendly) to get social media attention.
  • The case has to be relooked further; if any judgment is passed again, it must be convincible enough.
  • Yet another cry for justice--by everyone.

Update September 5, 2011

Update November 28, 2011

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