Arputhammal makes forceful plea

Wants Sonia and the Centre to consider her appeal to release Perarivalan

Arputhammal, Perarivalan's mother at Chennai Press Club on Thursday.

After retired Supreme Court Judge Justice K.T. Thomas wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi asking for magnanimity and remission of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, A.G. Perarivalan’s mother has appealed to the Central government for his release.

At an interaction with journalists at the Chennai Press Club on Thursday, Aruputhammal appealed to Ms. Gandhi and the Central government. “I am a mother who has been affected. I am hoping Ms. Sonia, who is a mother, will understand. My son has been inside the prison for 27 years. It is no longer a debate about whether he is innocent or guilty. He has spent most of his life in jail,” she said.

Ms. Arputhammal referred to the Supreme Court’s notice to the Centre seeking its response to an appeal from Perarivalan for suspension his sentence.

Ms. Arputhammal said that it was a good opportunity for the government to declare its intention of releasing Perarivalan. “When [former CBI officer V.] Thiagarajan’s statement became public, I hoped that my son will be released. However, that did not happen. Now, the judge (retd) of the Supreme Court himself has called for his release,” she said.

Ms. Arputhammal thanked the State government for granting parole to Perarivalan recently.

‘He is innocent’

She also thanked Justice Thomas and Mr. Thiagarajan for their public statements. “ I am not saying that my son should be released only because he has been in jail for so long. Release him because he is innocent,” she said.

Social activist Thiyagu, who — along with Perarivalan’s counsel V. Sivakumar — accompanied Ms. Arputhammal, said the political leadership had always listened to what Ms. Gandhi had had to say on the matter. “When some of us met the then Prime Minister, Vajpayee, to appeal for the commuting of the death sentence against the convicts, he asked us to meet to Ms. Gandhi. When I said that she had already supported our demands, he replied that she seemed to have been selective in her mercy,” he said. Even the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, had asked him to meet Ms. Gandhi.

Mr. Sivakumar also suggested that the State government reiterate its willingness to release Perarivalan.

“I hope my son will be with me this Pongal. It is the only festival I celebrate,” she said.