CHENNAI: Expressing shock over the enrolment of AG Perarivalan, a convict in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, in the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Congress MP R Sudha has written to President Droupadi Murmu urging cancellation of his enrolment as an advocate.
She has also urged that the matter be referred to a larger bench of the Madras High Court hearing a related case on enrolling people with cases pending against them.
In a long and detailed petition addressed to the President, the Lok Sabha MP has stated that April 27, when Perarivalan was enrolled into the Bar, will go down as a black day in the judicial history of the nation. She said that Section 24A of the Advocates Act, 1961, which prevents enrolment of a convict as an advocate for two years, cannot be blindly relied on to allow persons like Perarivalan, who was a member of the internationally banned terrorist organisation LTTE and was convicted for the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Mayiladuthurai MP has also questioned the powers of the present Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to enrol lawyers, as its existing office-bearers have ceased to be office-bearers because election for a new set of office-bearers has already been held. "While the Bar Council itself is yet to be elected, how can a team which has ceased to be office-bearers conduct the enrolment function on April 27? What is the tearing hurry? Is it to benefit this one convict, and allow him to be enrolled as an advocate?" she asked.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court ordered the release of Perarivalan on the ground of an inordinate delay on the part of the Governor in deciding the plea of remission of Perarivalan under Article 161 of the Constitution, she said, "The court's verdict in the case should not be interpreted as a blank cheque to do whatever one wants to put the honourable legal profession itself to shame. The Supreme Court did not foresee a situation where the convict would join a law course during the prohibitory period and then join the Bar Council's rolls saying the two-year prohibitory period was over."
"Allowing Perarivalan to have exclusive access to state and societal resources as a lawyer will be disastrous as well as demoralising for youngsters entering the profession. It will be a rude shock to the families of those who were killed along with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi," she said and appealed to the President to order an inquiry by appointing a retired judge into how Perarivalan's enrolment application was kept on hold for more than six months before being cleared for enrolment in a hurried manner on April 27, 2026.
