Conviction to study takes them to top

CHENNAI: They might be condemned prisoners waiting for their turn to the gallows, but such uncertainty has not deterred their conviction to study. Perarivalan and Murugan, two of the three accused facing death row for assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, came out with flying colours in the Class XII results declared on Tuesday, with the former scoring a whopping 91 per cent in total and the latter a centum in CommerceThe two, along with Santhan, have challenged their capital punishment in the courts after their clemency petition was turned down by the President. The case was subsequently transferred from the Madras High Court to the Supreme Court, where it is currently pending. Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), S K Dogra, told Express that all 35 prisoners who took the Higher Secondary examination this year have come out successful. Forty-year-old Perarivalan, who scored 1096 out of 1200 (91.33 per cent), topped the list of prisoners in performance. He obtained 198 in Commerce and 185 in Tamil. Perarivalan was closely followed by Soundarapandian, a life convict in Madurai. He notched up a score of 1080 (90 per cent), scoring over 180 marks in three subjects. Forty one-year-old Murugan, the other death row convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, scored a centum in Commerce, a subject that saw a marked dip in the overall number of centums this year. In all, he managed to register 82 per cent.Expressing joy over her son Perarivalan’s performance, an emotional Arpudham Ammal told Express over the phone that it would be 22 years on June 10 since her son was picked up for questioning by the CBI in the assassination case. “I have not seen him outside courts and jails after that day. I will meet him and wish him day after tomorrow. I am happy that he has ignored the sword hanging over his head and has achieved this,” she said, with her voice cracking. Dogra said that he was extremely happy with the performance of the prisoners. “Some 19 persons took the exam last year. This year it almost doubled and we have got 100 per cent result. This is extremely encouraging and shows that prisoners could be taken in the right path with motivation,” he observed, adding that 31 of the 35 prisoners were life convicts.