A.G. Perarivalan, a convict on death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and lodged in the Vellore central prison, has scored 1,096 out of 1,200 marks in the Plus-Two examination and topped the list of prisoners who took the examination.
Murugan alias Sriharan, who also faces the gallows in the same case, scored a centum in Commerce and is among the top five with 81.92 per cent, prison sources said on Tuesday.
100 per cent results
Central prisons in the State registered 100 per cent results in the 12th Standard State board examination, with 27 of its 35 inmates passing out with 60 per cent and above marks. R. Soundarapandian (Madurai central prison) scored 1,080 marks, closely followed by K. Munusamy (Puzhal central prison) with 988 marks and Murugan alias Sriharan with 983 marks.
Perarivalan scored 198 in commerce, 192 in Economics and 185 in Tamil. A majority of the inmates who passed the examination were life convicts. Perarivalan's score of 91.33 per cent is considered the highest-ever by any prisoner in the Plus-Two examinations in the State. At the time of his arrest, he had a Diploma in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He completed Bachelor of Computer Applications and Master of Computer Applications in prison. Murugan also has an MCA from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the sources said.
Interested in Ph.D
“Perarivalan wanted to clear Plus-Two because it is a prerequisite to register for Ph.D. He and Murugan got hall tickets to write Plus-Two exam in the Puzhal central prison last year. But the prison authorities refused to transport them from Vellore to Chennai for security reasons a day before the exam,” Perarivalan's mother Arputhammal told The Hindu .
She said her son was keen on doing research in a subject associated with life in prison. “But for a few court proceedings, he has not seen the outside world in the last 21 years. I thought a trip to Chennai to write the Plus-Two examination last year would be an enjoyable experience for him…but that got cancelled due to reasons best known to the administration,” Arputhammal added.
Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan, all sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, had filed a petition in the Madras High Court challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President after 11 years. The Supreme Court recently transferred the petitions to itself.
Additional Director-General of Police (Prisons) S.K. Dogra said he had conveyed his wishes to the inmates who passed the Plus Two exam.
Favourable environment
“We have taken several steps to provide a favourable environment for prisoners desirous of pursuing higher education. The number of inmates who appeared for the Plus-Two exam increased from 19 in 2011 to 35 this year. Many of them did remarkably well. This trend should not be seen in isolation but as part of a bigger pattern of the reformation-cum-reintegration programme of the Prison Department,” Mr. Dogra said.
