A.G Perarivalan, one of the life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, released on remission in 2022 donned the black robes on Monday (April 27, 2026). He was enrolled to the Bar Association of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and will practice as an advocate in the Madras High Court.
The Supreme Court on May 18, 2022, invoked its extraordinary powers to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution and ordered the release of Perarivalan in the former Prime Minister’s 1991 assassination case.
The top court took into consideration Perarivalan’s long incarceration for over 30 years to order his release. Earlier, his death penalty was commuted to life sentence. Terrorism charges were also withdrawn.
Soon after his release from prison, Perarivalan joined LLB course in Dr B.R. Ambedkar Law College, Bengaluru, Karnataka Law University, and completed the course in 2025. He cleared the All India Bar Examination the same year.
‘Inspired by legal battle’
Asked how he got interested in becoming a lawyer, Perarivalan said his long legal battle while in prison inspired him to study law and become an advocate. “My focus will be more on cases relating to anti-death penalty cases human rights,”
While in prison, Perarivalan bagged a gold medal by topping a diploma course examination conducted by the Tamil Nadu Open University. He stood first among prisoners by scoring 1,096 out of 1,200 in the Plus Two examination.
He also completed Bachelors Degree in Computer Application, Masters in Computer Applications from the Indira Gandhi National Open University, and seven other diploma courses while in the Vellore and Puzhal Central prisons. He passed some of these courses while facing death penalty.
